war in Ukraine
Scholz and Macron call on Putin for a ceasefire
Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron have called on Russian President Vladimir Putin for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. Photo: Uncredited/Russian Presidential Press Service/dpa
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Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron spoke again with Russian President Putin. They are calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and are pushing for a diplomatic solution.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.
Scholz and Macron also pushed for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. This was announced by government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit on Saturday after Scholz and Macron had called Putin. The midday interview lasted 75 minutes.
It was also said that Scholz spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj in the morning and found out about his assessment of the current situation.
Kremlin: Informed about “actual status”.
After the conversation, the Kremlin announced that Putin had informed Scholz and Macron about the “actual status” of the situation in Ukraine. Above all, the Russian President addressed numerous cases of massive human rights violations by Ukrainian security forces. Russia claims that a “genocide” of the Russian population is taking place in eastern Ukraine. There is no evidence for this.
Ukrainian units would execute dissenters, take hostages and use civilians as shields, and station heavy weapons in residential areas. “Nationalist” troops would systematically prevent evacuation attempts and intimidate civilians who want to flee, Putin said in the conversation. The Kremlin chief asked Scholz and Macron to put pressure on Ukraine to end such crimes. Ukraine, for its part, accuses Russia and the separatists of serious war crimes.