France's Macron: Ukraine's Zelenskiy is 'legitimate' president

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February 20, 2025 2:05 PM EST

French President Emmanuel Macron waves as he welcomes a guest for a second meeting on Ukraine and European security at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, February 19, 2025. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was a "legitimate" leader and that, unlike Russian President Vladimir Putin, he had taken office through a free election process.

Macron was commenting on U.S. President Donald Trump denunciation of Zelenskiy as a "dictator without elections".

Zelenskiy's five-year term was supposed to end in 2024, but elections cannot be held under martial law that Kyiv imposed in February 2022 in response to Russia's full-scale invasion.

Macron was speaking in a question-and-answer session on social media as part of government efforts to make the French people more aware of the impact of the Ukraine war, France's diplomatic role, and the major change in U.S. posture towards the conflict since Trump took office a month ago.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and John Irish; editing by Mark Heinrich)


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