SHARE
COPY LINK

UKRAINE

Ukraine war overshadows France’s WWII commemorations

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday marked the anniversary of the Allies' victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, overshadowed this year by the war in Ukraine.

France's President Emmanuel Macron lays a wreath of flowers on the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
France's President Emmanuel Macron lays a wreath of flowers on the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Photo: Ludovic Marin/Pool/AFP

Paris’ traditional WWII commemorations began on the Champs-Elysees avenue, with the president laying a wreath at the statue of Charles de Gaulle, the wartime French resistance leader and later founding president of France’s Fifth Republic.

Macron reviewed troops before laying a second wreath and reigniting the eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe.

With the Covid-19 pandemic easing in France, it was the first time since 2019 that spectators were permitted.

Later on Sunday, Macron will discuss the Ukraine war with G7 leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, before marking Europe Day in Strasbourg on Monday and then meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

READ ALSO: Zelensky says he invited Macron to see evidence of ‘genocide’ in Ukraine

French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot told reporters that this year’s ceremonies “certainly took on considerable significance” given the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

“We thought war had disappeared from Europe,” she said.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian wrote on Twitter that “we won’t forget the soldiers from across the Soviet Union, including Ukrainians and Russians, who contributed to the victory” over Nazi Germany.

He added that “we reject all forms of instrumentalisation and manipulation of the memory of those who gave their lives”.

The Kremlin claims it is engaged in a “special military operation” aimed at “de-Nazifying” Ukraine, and has banned using the word “war” to describe the fighting in Russian media and social networks.

Kyiv and Western governments accuse Russia of war crimes, with Zelensky likening the invasion to Nazi Germany’s war of aggression across Europe in a video published on social media on Sunday.

READ ALSO: Macron says France to ‘intensify’ military, humanitarian aid to Ukraine

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

UKRAINE

France charges two Moldovans over coffin graffiti in Paris

French prosecutors on Saturday charged two Moldovans suspected of painting coffins and a slogan urging an end to Ukraine war on the facade of a prominent Paris newspaper, a judicial source said.

France charges two Moldovans over coffin graffiti in Paris

It was just the latest in a series of such acts in the capital in recent weeks. French officials have repeatedly warned of the risks of disinformation and other attacks by Russia over France’s support for Kyiv.

Tension between Paris and Moscow has increased since President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this year he had not ruled out sending troops to Ukraine.

The two men, who carried Moldovan passports, were arrested overnight Thursday-Friday after six red coffins and the phrase “Stop the Death, Mriya, Ukraine” were painted on the building of right-wing daily Le Figaro. Mriya means “dream” in Ukrainian.

They are being held on charges of destruction of property and participating in “an effort to demoralise the army to harm national defence in peacetime”, the source said.

Six similar coffins were found early Thursday on the facade of the Agence France-Presse headquarters in central Paris, not far from the Figaro offices.

A source close to the case said the two Moldovans claimed to have been paid around €100 to paint the graffiti.

A separate investigations has been opened after graffiti showing French Mirage fighter jets in the form of coffins were found last Tuesday in three districts of Paris. They included the phrase “Mirages for Ukraine”.

Similar graffiti was discovered on the walls of the AFP building Monday.

Macron announced in early June that France would send Mirage-2000 fighter jets to Ukraine and train their Ukrainian pilots as part of a new military cooperation with Kyiv.

On June 8, French police said they were holding three young Moldovans suspected of being behind inscriptions of coffins in Paris with the slogan “French soldiers in Ukraine”.

They were later charged with property damage and released.

Moldova’s Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi posted on X, formerly Twitter: “We regret and firmly condemn the incident”.

He said the “vandalism” was “part of hybrid tactics to harm our international image”.

Popsoi reiterated his comment on Saturday, denouncing an “instigation to hate”.

“We call on Moldovan citizens to be vigilant and not to allow themselves to be manipulated to the detriment of our country.”

SHOW COMMENTS