French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, June 7, that he wanted Kyiv’s EU accession talks to start “by the end of the month,” as he hosted Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for discussions in Paris.

“France continues to support Ukraine in all areas including on the European level by seeking to have the effective launch of membership negotiations by the end of the month,” Macron told reporters alongside Zelensky, adding France also wanted an “irreversible path” to NATO membership for Ukraine.

He also said he wanted to “finalize” the creation of a coalition of military instructors for Ukraine in the coming days. “We will use the days to come to finalize the largest possible coalition to implement Ukraine’s demand,” Macron told reporters in Paris alongside Zelensky. “We want to have a coalition and several of our partners have already given their agreement… We are not alone.”

The French president denounced what he called a “camp of pacifists” and the “spirit of defeat” during the press conference. “We know this camp of pacifists. It is the one of capitulators. It’s the spirit of defeat. We are not like this,” Macron said.