Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited French President Emmanuel Macron to visit Ukraine, where he is sure the French leader will understand that the war crimes committed by Russia are genocide.

"I don't know whether Emmanuel [Macron] formulated it legally – whether it is genocide or not. I have great faith that he will understand that it is genocide when he comes here. I invite him. Like every leader ... For today, many leaders in the world, people, to fully understand and determine everything, they should be here [in Ukraine], on the spot, " said Zelensky in an interview with the French news channel BFM TV, published on Telegram channel of the President’s Office of Ukraine.

The head of state expressed confidence that European states would be able to fully appreciate the threat of Russia only when it knocks at their doors.

"Unfortunately, and I state: you can only fully understand what it means when 300 children have been killed when your child has been killed. I neither wish this on France, nor on Germany, nor to Poland or any other country. I do not wish it, because it is a loss of the meaning of life. And that is why I say that the issue of genocide: the rape of children, women, babies - what they [Russians] have come to, and even the video evidence of this can be understood when you are here. We believe that the complete destruction of several cities is genocide," the president said.

Zelensky also expressed confidence that amid the war Macron and the French would have to choose between business with Russia and the fight for freedom and human rights.

"I think it is very difficult for him [Macron] because many representatives of big French business were oriented (less now) to relations, to business and money from Russia. This has to do with the history of the Russian Federation in France and vice versa. We understand that many elites of the Russian Federation are in France. Many of them rest, they like Nice, Cannes, yachts, houses. Everyone understands the influence of Russian money, oligarchs and business on France," the head of state said.

"But President Macron and France, so it turned out - it is war, must choose between business, money, between history and the fight for freedom, for people's rights, for life," Zelensky said.