Macron “wasting his time” in dialogue with russia – Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron is wasting time considering any sort of dialogue with russia.

He said this in an interview with the Italian publication Corriere della Sera, responding to Macron's statement that russia should be "defeated but not crushed" and that the conflict in Ukraine should be resolved through negotiations.

The two presidents spoke by telephone on Sunday. The Ukrainian leader said that the parties discussed measures to implement Ukraine's "peace formula" presented by Zelensky last year. Later Zelensky told Corriere della Sera:

"It will be a useless dialogue. In fact, Macron is wasting his time. I have come to the conclusion that we are not able to change the russian attitude," Zelensky said.

On Friday, at the Munich Security Conference, Macron called on allies to increase military support for Ukraine.

He also told Journal du Dimanche that he doesn't believe that the change of the regime will in any way improve the situation in russia.

Macron has been criticized by some NATO allies for giving mixed messages regarding his policy on russia's war in Ukraine.

Still, before his brief visit to Paris this month, Zelensky said Macron's tougher stand on russia in recent months showed he had significantly changed.