The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has summoned French ambassador Etienne de Montaigne de Poncins to request explanation over French President Emmanuel Macron's remarks about Ukrainians.
“In connection with the appearance of media reports about the words attributed to French President Macron, the French ambassador to Ukraine was invited to the Foreign Ministry to provide explanation. The French ambassador noted that the French side has no complaints about Ukrainian citizens traveling around France. Therefore, Macron’s words regarding migration and legal employment were taken out of context," the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Kateryna Zelenko, said.
The parties also confirmed that there is a full understanding between Kyiv and Paris which cooperate in the implementation of agreements on the movement of citizens of both countries.
In an interview with the right-wing magazine Valeurs Actuelles, the French president said that he would prefer legal migrants from Africa over "illegal Ukrainian or Bulgarian gangs".