PARIS, May 9. /TASS/. European Union countries need to preserve peace in Europe and prevent the situation in Ukraine from escalating, French President Emmanuel Macron said, addressing the European Parliament on Monday.

"We need to preserve peace in Europe at all costs and prevent the situation in Ukraine from escalating," he pointed out. At the same time, Macron added that Kiev should be the one to define the conditions for talks with Moscow. "We aren’t at war with Russia," the French leader stressed, calling for "preserving the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and restoring peace on the continent."

According to Macron, Europe should seek to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies. "Europe should remain independent amid the conflict in Ukraine. Our independence is crucial for our freedom," Macron said.

The French president also suggested that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s idea of moving from a unanimity-based mechanism to a qualified majority decision-making should be discussed at an EU summit.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation based on a request from the heads of the Donbass republics. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans to occupy Ukrainian territories and the goal was to demilitarize and denazify the country. In response, the West imposed major sanctions on Russia. In addition, Western countries started to provide weapons and military equipment to Kiev, whose total value is currently estimated at billions of dollars.