It sounds like a friend is calling.
“Sorry, Emanuel,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky answered the call at the online press conference center in late March. “I'm just talking to the reporter. Can I come back in a few minutes?” On the other end of the phone is French President Emmanuel Macron making a direct call. He could wait, it seemed.
“Yes, please. Thank you, thank you, Emanuel! Well, great. Goodbye.” Mr. Zelensky continued, then hung up and told reporters that he talked to Mr. Macron almost every day.
According to an interview with 11 people who worked closely with Mr Macron or Mr Zelensky, the call reflects the true bond between the two leaders and is marked by mutual respect, trust and personal attention. Many of them say that this link is based on a cornerstone of a common interest – defending Ukraine's sovereignty and deflecting further Russian occupation.
Since the two men met, the interviewees have appeared at key points. They provide a portrait of the strategic partnership between Russia and Ukraine.
Director-General of International Relations and Strategy of the French Ministry of Defense, Mr. Macron's Deputy Diplomatic Advisor until 2022, he is rare in trust and accountability. ”
The French President – who arrived in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, on Saturday morning, saw Mr. Zelensky as a brave leader, embodying the Ukrainian resistance, which was direct and decisive. They said Mr. Zelensky often calls Mr. Macron by his name in his speeches, who thinks Mr. Macron is the one who keeps his promises, and will advocate for the interests of Kiev and help him in difficult relationships with foreign leaders like President Trump.
Instead of going through formal diplomatic channels, these people answered calls and called each other directly – security lines, WhatsApp and signals. Their conversations often have an agenda, but sometimes they will ring each other to check something or sound ideas. Sometimes, just as Russian missiles hit Mr. Zelensky's hometown, Kryvyi Rih, killing 19 people and turning the playground into a shocking morgue, Mr. Macron just appealed for attention and friendship.
In Mr. Zelensky's office movement, Mr. Macron welcomed the comedian to bring the politician to the Élysée Palace in Paris, a rare invitation to any candidate, not to mention a relatively unknown and untrained person. This helped Mr. Zelensky gain credibility at home. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Zelensky was elected president in a surprise landslide vote in April 2019.
“He is really grateful to the established figure, the G7 head of state,” said Vadym Prystaiko, Foreign Minister under Mr Zelensky.
Mr. Macron is interested in Mr. Zelensky uniting his country to bring it closer to Europe and ending the war with Russia, which began with the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. From the beginning, he loved the direct and vibrant style of Ukraine, which was in line with himself. They are both 41 years old and are only one month old.
“Macron likes the story of unexpected President Zelensky because Macron is also unexpected president,” said Mr Macron's former foreign minister, Nathalie Loiseau. “They are all weak people who don’t bet on.”
Mr. Zelensky's first state visit as newly elected President of Ukraine arrived in Paris in June 2019. Later that year, he returned to his first (and only) direct dialogue with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin about the war between his countries.
At that time, Mr. Macron himself was trying to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. He regularly talked with Mr. Putin, welcomed him to France several times and visited Moscow in February 2022, only weeks before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he believed that until the last minute he could dissuade the Russian president from attack.
Even after the invasion, Mr. Macron remained in touch with Mr. Putin. However, he stressed the need for Russian security and avoidance of humiliation to Russia, but he drew criticism from many European colleagues and Ukrainians who believed it was a childish and overly sympathetic attitude towards the invaders.
The Ukrainian army turned “Macron” into a Ukrainian verb, which meant a lot of discourse and little movement. Although Mr. Zelensky thanked France for his humanitarian and diplomatic support, he and other top Ukrainian officials were frustrated by the slow pace of French arms delivery.
Rym Momtaz, an expert on French foreign policy at the Carnegie International Peace Foundation, said that the period was a low point in the relationship between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Macron, who had traveled regularly with Mr. Macron, who was writing a book about the ever-changing world order.
Then, four months after the war, Mr. Macron went to Kiev to visit the broken suburbs of Orpin.
“That was the moment I witnessed their relationship change,” Ms. Loiso said.
She tells about his long one-on-one meeting with Mr. Zelensky, she tells. “Macron told me, 'We are lucky to have people like him.'” “We can work with him.” We must bet on him. It's worth it. '”
Mr. Macron stopped talking to Mr. Putin after Ukrainian soldiers liberated Buda, where he discovered the Holocaust. Mr Zelensky said in the newspaper early 2023 in early 2023: “I think he has changed.
Macron said in a speech at Bratislava, Slovakia in May 2023 that he did not hear enough that Eastern European countries have long warned about Russia's expansionist goals, calling on Western countries to provide security assurances to Ukraine. Many analysts believe this is a major shift in the French presidential policy, closing the door on Russia and putting his weight all into defending Ukraine.
“Since then, the relationship with Zelensky has been improving and deepening,” Ms Motaz said.
Some people close to the French president said they regret that France did not provide Kiev with more military equipment or direct assistance. But they believe Mr Macron proved his worth by combining Ukrainian leaders with other leaders, including just in the case of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral.
For example, in February 2024, at a meeting on war in Paris, Mr. Macron proposed the idea of Europe sending troops in Ukraine to ensure a ceasefire. The pushback was almost the same at that time. Now, over a year later, detailed discussions on the composition and support of the force continue.
“Macro's utility for Zelensky was not because he was just a friend who sympathized with him and did his best to help him. We were in the war, we had no emotional relationships,” said another former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. “France helped, but it also largely could put ideas on the table, violated, paving the way.”
Since Mr. Trump’s return to Washington, Mr. Macron has proven to be an important channel and translator between the President of the United States and Mr. Zelensky.
Following Mr. Zelensky's disastrous visit to the White House in February, Mr. Macron spoke to the two leaders over the phone and helped stitch the consistent reconciliation.
Ms. Moktaz said: “Macron absolutely uses his ability to get a hearing from Trump to help raise Zelensky's stance.”
Two anonymous, who are consistent with French political practice, said the pace and content of the dialogue between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Macron has changed in recent months. Now, they have discussed a ceasefire plan on both the battlefield and the White House, rather than military supplies.
According to Ms. Rufu, Mr. Macron regularly introduced the intimate movement of the war to his army and intelligence, and appealed in a call with Mr. Zelensky, who discussed the battlefield in detail – until the names of the towns and villages on the front.
In a recent interview with Ukraine’s new documentary, Our War, Mr. Zelensky told French intellectual Mr. Bernard-Henri Lévy: “Emmanuel is an expert in war.”
Mr. Levi, who filmed a documentary meeting between leaders, said he witnessed the “brotherhood of brotherhood, soul and weapon” between them.
For Mr. Zelensky, Mr. Macron “is more than just an ally—I think he has become a friend.”
