For the first time since the end of March, French President Emmanuel Macron has called Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the war in Ukraine. The conversation today lasted more than two hours, it said from the Elysee Palace. Paris did not give any further details. The Kremlin said Putin briefed Macron on the “liberation” of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol by Russian troops and the successful evacuation of civilians from the besieged Azov-Steel plant.
This portrayal was overshadowed by Ukrainian media reports that Russian soldiers are said to have started a new assault on Azov steel – although around 200 civilians are believed to be still stuck there. After more than 120 people were rescued from the factory premises last weekend, another evacuation attempt failed.
Regarding the phone call with Macron, the Kremlin also said that Putin had complained that European countries were ignoring the Ukrainian shelling of towns in the Donbas. The West might have avoided the deaths of civilians by stopping arms deliveries, it said. Moscow repeatedly accuses Kyiv of attacks once morest civilians – despite the fact that Russia itself attacked Ukraine on February 24. Since then, Russian troops have been accused of having committed serious war crimes in the Kiev suburb of Bucha and elsewhere.
