Emmanuel Macron and Olav Scholz urged Putin to negotiate with Zelensky directly. They also insisted on declaring immediate ceasefire and a Russian withdrawal from Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olav Scholz called Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, image source,AFP
President Emmanuel Macron and the German chancellor Olav Scholz spoke to Vladimir Putin for 80 minutes yesterday. In a phone call they urged Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine and negotiate directly with President Zelensky. On his part, Vladimir Putin said Moscow was open for a dialogue with Kyiv. However, the Kremlin did not mention the possibility of direct negotiations with President Zelensky.
Zelensky said that he was not eager for talks, but suggested that they might be needed to end the war. Both Russians and Ukrainians have held multiple negotiations since the Russian invasion in February, but their efforts have run out of steam. Meanwhile, Russia has renewed its offensive in the Donbas region and has bombarded Severodonetsk.
“Release Azovstal Fighters”, West asks Kremlin
France and Germany also requested the release of 2500 Ukrainian fighters captured at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. After the Russians captured Mariupol , Azovstal became became the last Ukrainian holdout. Soon, they bombarded it to ruins. In early May, Russian officials said that the fighters defending the plant had surrendered. On the other hand, President Zelensky has said that they were permitted to leave.
The West wants Russia to hand over POWs captured from the Azovstal steel plant (in picture) image source, Reuters
Russia has moved more than 900 Ukrainian fighters into an old prison colony in Olenivka, Donetsk. According to Russian officials,It has shifted fighters with serious wounds to a hospital in Novoazavosk, Donetsk. Ukraine hopes that Russia will exchange them for Russian POWs, yet Kremlin hasn’t confirmed that. Some Russian lawmakers want them to be tried or executed.
France and Germany also asked Russia to lift its blockade of the port of Odessa and allow Ukrainian grain exports. The Russian blockade has created shortages in the supply of grains and risen its prices. The Kremlin said that Vladimir Putin offered to ease the risk of a global food crisis and look at other options. However, he also demanded the west to lift its sanctions against Russia. Putin also warned the West against sending weapons supplies to the Ukrainians. He said this could further increase instability. Western weapons have so far been effective in the destruction of Russian tanks in Ukraine. Russians have lost more than 600 tanks in Ukraine Ukrainians either destroyed or captured half of them ,or Russian forces abandoned them.
Russian Wants to “Liberate” Donbas
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has reiterated that Donbas’s “liberation” is an unconditional priority to Russia. He says Russia aims at “demilitarising” its neighbour. It is fighting a Neo-Nazi regime, he said. Even western observers have concluded that Russians think they are in a “peace keeping” mission. This seems ironical given their destruction of Mariupol and relentless bombarding of Severodonetsk. There are even credible instances of war crimes committed by the Russians in Ukraine. Even then, France and Germany are eager to persuade Russians into a negotiated peace with Ukraine. However, some western nations fear that it may force Ukraine to cede its territory for peace.
So far, western calls for negotiations have come in the middle of the Russian occupation of Lyman and their bombarding Severodonetsk. .officials reported Russians surrounding two-thirds of the city on Friday. Serhiy Haidai , the governor of Luhansk region, said the Russian bombardment killed two people overnight. Ukrainian troops may also leave Severodonetsk in order to prevent their encirclement.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal spoke to the BBC. He said that the Russians destroyed more than 25,00kms of roads,several bridges,airports,hospitals and other installations.Smyhal concluded that Russia must pay for the damage it caused.
(inputs, BBC)
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