PARIS

France’s president on Friday said the Russian war efforts in Ukraine are likely to intensify with the approaching victory day on May 9, resulting in “difficult scenes in Donbas.”

Emmanuel Macron told RTL news that unfortunately, the war will not stop in the coming days. “For Russia, May 9 is an important date. It is almost certain that for Vladimir Putin, May 9 must be a day of victory. I think that we are going to experience very difficult scenes in the Donbas” region in eastern Ukraine, he said.

“I don’t think the next few weeks will see many diplomatic concessions from Russia,” he added.

May 9 marks the Victory Day of the Nazi surrender in World War II. It is a prominent holiday for Europe and Russia which celebrates the day with a military parade across the Red Square.

The US intelligence also assesses that Putin wants to celebrate this day by demonstrating to the Russians they have won the war.

Macron said Europe has done everything in the last four years to try and avoid the war and it will continue with the sanctions to keep the pressure on Moscow.

He condemned France’s right-wing party the National Front, led by Marine Le Pen, for abstaining from sanctions against Russia.

“I noted the culpable absence of all the parliamentarians of the National Front in the European Parliament when it came to sanctioning Russia,” he added.

Le Pen, who is projected to be Macron’s closest challenger in the presidential election on Sunday, has long-standing ties with Russia and proposed a security alliance with Moscow at the end of the war.