Russian President Vladimir Putin has exchanged needs with his equivalents from France and Germany in an 80 minute phone call.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have advised Russian President Vladimir Putin to release the 2500 Ukrainian protectors of the Azovstal steel plant apprehended by Russian forces, the Elysee palace stated.
The 2 European leaders, in a joint call, likewise advised Putin to accept a direct exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the palace stated.
Russia stated this month that practically 2000 Ukrainians had gaveup after making a last stand in the ruins of Mariupol, where they had held out for weeks in bunkers and tunnels below the huge Azovstal steelworks.
Macron and Scholz likewise firmlyinsisted on the seriousness of lifting the Russian blockade of the port of Odesa to permit Ukrainian grain exports, the palace stated.
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The Kremlin stated Putin informed Macron and Scholz in the call that Russia was ready to goover methods to make it possible for Ukraine to resume deliveries of grain from Black Sea ports.
Putin likewise supposedly warned Scholz and Macron versus supplying Ukraine with heavy weapons throughout the 80-minute phone call.
Deliveries of more effective weapons presented the threat of evenmore destabilising the circumstance and worsening the humanitarian crisis, Putin stated, according to a Kremlin declaration released after the call.
Russia attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a “special operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” its southern neighbour. Ukraine and Western countries have dismissed this as a unwarranted pretext for war.
with DPA
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