Hollande: ‘There will only be a way out of the conflict when Russia fails on the ground’
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Former French President François Hollande didn’t have an easy time in office, having been struck by one domestic crisis after another during his 2012-2017 tenure.
Hollande also was in office when Russia first launched its war against Ukraine, now well in its eighth year.
In February 2014, Russian troops occupied Crimea and soon used Kremlin-controlled proxies to launch a military offensive in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, staging it at first as a separatist movement.
Europe's two main players – France and Germany – took on the task of stopping Russia's aggression and making Russia's President Vladimir Putin seek peace.
Stopping Russia's advance in 2015, the West failed to punish Russia for its brutal military campaign, leading to Russia launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which already killed tens of thousands people.
According to Hollande, his endeavor wasn't a failure.
The former French president partly attributes Ukraine's successful resilience in 2022 to his own diplomatic efforts in 2014-2015.
