Germany, France push for secondary sanctions on Russia amid Ukraine war

After the 25th Franco-German Council of Ministers, US President Donald Trump’s diplomatic push has not yet brought an end to the three-and-a-half-year conflict, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron have called for secondary sanctions to stop Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Following their meeting in the southern French port city of Toulon, the leaders of Europe’s two largest economies on Friday agreed to ratchet up measures to combat Russia’s “companies that support its war,” including “companies from third countries that support Russia’s war.”

A day after the most deadly Russian attack on Kyiv in a few months, the two nations also agreed to provide Ukraine with additional air defense equipment and to start a strategic discussion on nuclear deterrence. At least 23 people were killed on Thursday when Russian missiles and drones ripped through Kyiv’s apartment blocks, including four children. About 50 others were also hurt.

After Trump’s decision to resume diplomatic relations with Moscow at the start of his second presidency, the conflict that was sparked by Russia’s massive invasion of its neighbor in February 2022 appears to have lost momentum.

Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as Putin had promised to do in conversations with Trump earlier this month, will eventually have a long-awaited meeting, according to Macron.

However, he added that “Putin will play President Trump again” if the Russian leader didn’t adhere to the Monday deadline.

Merz continued that the war appeared to last “many more months” and that it appeared as though Putin was “unwilling” to hold such a meeting.

He said, “We will not abandon Ukraine,” but that Putin appeared to be showing “no readiness” to meet with Zelenskyy.

That does not surprise me, Merz said, “to be honest, because this is a part of this Russian president’s strategy.”

Ogre is “at our gates.”

In reprehensibility over remarks made by France’s Macron that angered Moscow last week, Putin was described as an “ogre at our gates.”

“We claim there is an ogre at the gates of Europe,” he said, echoing the sentiments of many other countries, including the Ukrainens, that the Georgians and the Americans have experienced since their 2008 invasion.

That is a man who has chosen to impose imperialism on others in order to alter global borders.

Macron also warned that Putin had a habit of saying one thing at a global meeting before acting differently.

He claimed that the disconnect between President Putin’s statements at international summits and the reality of his actual actions demonstrates his insincerity.