AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – European Council President Charles Michel, who spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, urged him to speak directly with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodimir Zelensky and pleaded for a ceasefire in Ukraine, we learned from a European official.
For its part, the Kremlin let it be known that Vladimir Putin had specified to Charles Michel that a bilateral discussion with Volodimir Zelensky was only possible if the ongoing talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations led to concrete results.
The Russian president said the Ukrainian authorities were not trying to reach mutually acceptable solutions and accused them of being “fickle” in the negotiations.
During this telephone conversation which took place at 08:00 GMT, two days after Charles Michel’s visit to Kyiv, the President of the European Council underlined “very clearly” the unacceptable nature of the war in Ukraine launched on February 24 by Russia and detailed the cost of the sanctions the European Union has imposed on Russia, the EU official said.
Charles Michel also called for a ceasefire on the occasion of the upcoming Orthodox Easter holidays this weekend and pleaded for the establishment of secure evacuation corridors to allow civilians to flee. besieged Ukrainian cities, including Mariupol.
(Report Marine Strauss and Reuters offices, written by Charlotte Van Campenhout; French version Myriam Rivet, edited by Nicolas Delame)
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