French embassy denies reports over Macron’s visit to Kyiv this week

The French embassy in Ukraine said on Tuesday that the embassy’s first adviser, Bruno Caussanel had “strongly denied” comments made on his behalf over the possible visit of President Emmanuel Macron to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Public Broadcaster cited Caussanel as saying on June 13  that Macron was planning to arrive in Ukraine on June 15, following his visit to Moldova.

The French embassy stated that Caussanel had no authority to comment on the issue, was on vacation that time, and had no specific information about the president’s visit.

The Italian edition of La Stampa wrote on Monday that on June 16, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were planning to arrive in Ukraine to confirm their support for President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The same day, CNN was told at the Elysee Palace that President Macron’s visit to Ukraine had not been decided at that stage.

Macron, who currently chairs the Council of Leaders of the EU Member States, has so far not expressed unequivocal support for Ukraine being granted EU candidate status.

The European Commission is currently drafting recommendations on granting this status to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, and the final decision will be made by the leaders of the EU member states at a summit scheduled for June 23-24 in Brussels.