During a telephone conversation, the two presidents agreed on “the need to favor a diplomatic solution to the current crisis”.
Article written by
Posted
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin have agreed to try to quickly reach a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. The two leaders also agreed on “the need to favor a diplomatic solution to the current crisis and to do everything to achieve it”at declared the Elysée on Sunday February 20, following the telephone conversation between the two presidents.
>> Crisis in Ukraine: follow the latest information in our live
The two leaders also agreed to a “intense work to allow the holding of a meeting of the trilateral contact group in the next few hours”, said the Elysée. This contact group brings together Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as part of the Minsk Accords reached in 2015 to try to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists.
Discussions between Russia and France will continue. The heads of Russian and French diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov and Jean-Yves Le Drian, will meet on Monday by telephone, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.
For his part, the Russian president estimated that theare “provocations of the Ukrainian security forces” were “at the origin of the escalation” tensions in the east of the country. According to the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin also demanded that NATO and Washington “take seriously” Russian security demands.
“Serious concerns have been expressed about the sharp deterioration of the situation on the line of contact in the Donbass”, the Kremlin said in a statement. The Russian president also considered that the deliveries of modern weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian forces by Westerners “pushing Kiev towards a military solution”.
Earlier today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who also spoke with Emmanuel Macron, had demanded “immediate ceasefire” in the east of the country.