Vladimir Putin said that he will achieve “his goals” in Ukraine “for negotiation or for war”, in a telephone conversation on Sunday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, the French presidency affirmed.
The Russian leader also stressed that “it was not his intention” to attack Ukrainian nuclear power plants, according to a French presidency source.
During their one hour and 45 minute conversation, Macron found Putin “very determined to achieve his goals”, including “what the Russian president calls ‘denazification’ and the neutralization of Ukraine.”
The telephone discussion between the two leaders, at the request of Macron, is the fourth since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24.
“The worst is yet to come”
In their previous exchange, the French presidency reported that Macron believed that “the worst is yet to come” and that Putin seeks to take over “the entire country.”
Putin also called for the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea (which Moscow annexed in 2014) and the independence of the Russian-speaking territories of Donbas (eastern Ukraine).
Some demands “unacceptable for the Ukrainians”, explained the French presidency.
Macron urged Putin that his army not endanger civilians, in accordance with international law, something that, according to the Russian leader, is not happening.
The French president responded by saying that it is “the Russian army that is attacking”, and that he has “no reason to believe that the Ukrainian army is endangering civilians”.
Putin blamed Kyiv for the failure of the operation to evacuate civilians from the port city of Mariupol (south), surrounded by Russian forces, according to the Kremlin.
Putin says he is ‘ready to respect’ IAEA rules
Putin wanted to “draw attention to the fact that Kyiv continues not to comply with the agreements reached around this serious humanitarian problem,” according to a Kremlin statement, after two frustrated attempts to evacuate Mariupol, with both sides accusing each other of having broken the ceasefire.
Macron had expressed concern about attacks on Ukrainian nuclear facilities after Russian forces besieged Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia on March 4.
“President Putin He said that it was not his intention to carry out attacks against those plants. He also said that he is willing to abide by IAEA standards [Organismo Internacional de la Energía Atómica] on the protection of power plants”, indicated the French presidency.