EU flags. Archival photoPARIS, May 9. Thierry Mariani, a member of the European Parliament from the French National Rally party, called for an end to arming Ukraine. «Give weapons to the Ukrainians. What do we want? To kill them to the last? To squeeze the Russians out well? And then Mr. (US President Joe — ed.) Biden will send the Europeans, maybe?» — said the MEP on the air of the RMC TV channel. Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
