French President Emmanuel Macron has affirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a legitimate leader.
Speaking on Thursday, Macron emphasised that, unlike Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky had assumed office through a free and fair election process.
The French President was responding to US President Donald Trump’s denunciation of Zelensky as a dictator who had not held elections.
Media Talk Africa reports that Zelensky’s five-year term was due to end in 2024, but elections could not be held under the martial law imposed by Kyiv in February 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Macron made the remarks during a question-and-answer session on social media, part of a broader government effort to raise public awareness of the impact of the war in Ukraine, France’s diplomatic role, and the significant shift in US policy towards the conflict since Trump took office a month ago.
