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KYIV – Ukraine and Russia called for intensified diplomatic efforts yesterday to avert all-out war, each blaming the other for a sharp escalation in shelling on the front line separating Kyiv’s forces from Moscow-backed separatists.
After separate calls with France’s President Emmanuel Macron, both Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky pressed for more talks.
Macron and Putin then spoke for a second time late yesterday, the French presidency said.
Washington is warning a Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent, and earlier Macron’s office dubbed the calls “the last possible and necessary efforts to avoid a major conflict in Ukraine”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia remained “on the brink” of invading Ukraine, but promised that President Joe Biden was ready to talk to Putin and that Washington would seek a diplomatic solution until Russian “tanks are actually rolling”.
During his first, 105-minute discussion with Macron, Putin said “the cause of the escalation is provocations carried out by the Ukrainian security forces”, according to a Kremlin statement.
Putin repeated a call for “the United States and Nato to take Russian demands for security guarantees seriously”.
But he added that the two leaders “believe it is important to intensify efforts to find solutions through diplomatic means”.
Macron’s office also said the two had agreed on “the need to favour a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis and to do everything to achieve one”, adding that both countries’ foreign ministers would meet “in the coming days”.
The second time the pair spoke, late yesterday evening, it was for an hour, the French presidency said.
That call came after Macron also spoke to Biden for 15 minutes yesterday. The White House said that they discussed “ongoing diplomacy and deterrence efforts” but did not elaborate.
The French leader, his German counterpart Olaf Scholz, and other allied leaders were also to hold calls later yesterday, the Elysee said.
Moscow has demanded that the Nato alliance permanently rule out Ukraine’s bid for membership and the withdrawal of Western forces deployed in eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War.
Zelensky called for an immediate ceasefire and the resumption of talks.
“We stand for intensifying the peace process,” he tweeted, adding that he had informed Macron about “new provocative shelling” on the front line between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said it would hold an extraordinary meeting today to seek ways to deescalate the situation.
Macron also spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, with both underscoring “the need for President Putin to step back” and withdraw his troops, according to Downing Street. – AFP, February 22, 2022