PARIS, May 30. /TASS/. President Emmanuel Macron's decision to approve Ukraine’s use of French weapons for strikes targeting the territory of Russia is another step toward Paris' full involvement in the conflict, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the parliamentary faction of France’s National Rally party, said in an interview with French radio broadcaster FranceInfo.
"Following Macron's statements about sending in the [French] military, this announcement [to authorize strikes against Russian territory with Western weapons] is the latest move to fuel this conflict," she said. "I'm beginning to think that Macron is seeking France’s full-fledged participation in this war."
"I believe this would create an absolutely enormous danger to the safety of our countrymen and the integrity of our territory and I’m certainly against it," the French politician continued.
Le Pen said she was in support of supplying "defensive weapons" to Ukraine, but opposes French weapons being used for delivering strikes outside Ukrainian borders. She noted that this brings the outbreak of a new World War closer and she would not want to see France standing at "the frontlines of this conflict."
The conflict in Ukraine, she continued, cannot be resolved by military force, saying that a diplomatic resolution should be sought between the parties involved. What's more, Ukraine should be given the chance to come to these negotiations "in the most favorable position."
"The developments over there can be described as a bloodbath," Le Pen stated. "Do we all realize that victory cannot be achieved by military means and that we must make war impossible? Or are we going to continue, in fact, the Hundred Years' War, sending young men out there every day?"
"No one but the two main parties [to the conflict] can decide on this. However, a number of other countries can try again to bring them closer together, and France is no longer doing that. It is a shame that other countries are doing this, and not us," the politician noted.
On May 28, French President Macron spoke in favor of allowing Kiev to strike military facilities on Russian territory, those from which strikes on Ukraine are launched, using West’s weapons.
The French president said that France was only helping to defend Ukraine, "staying within the previous framework," and did not want an escalation. In turn, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Macron's words were nothing new, a continuation of the rhetoric so often used by Western countries.