French President Emmanuel Macron is speaking with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday morning, in what is seen as a last-minute diplomatic effort to try to avoid a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It comes as tensions have reached their highest point in some years in eastern Ukraine, amid a spike of violence over the weekend that has reinforced fears in the West that Russia may seek a pretext to invade its neighbor.
The Russian and Belarusian armies were due to end joint military drills in Belarus on Sunday. However, the defense ministry in Minsk has said the exercises will now continue because of the aggravated tensions in neighboring Ukraine.
The drills began on February 10, adding to Western fears over Moscow’s intentions. Russia has amassed an estimated 150,000 troops along the Ukrainian border but denies planning to invade.
Macron’s phone call with Putin, began as scheduled at 11.00 CET, the Elysée confirmed. The French president’s office described it as among “the last possible and necessary efforts to avoid a major conflict in Ukraine”. It follows a meeting between the two leaders in Moscow on February 7.
The past few days have seen a spectacular rise in skirmishes along the eastern front in Ukraine.
Hundreds of artillery shells have exploded this weekend along the contact line between Ukrainian soldiers and Russia-backed separatists in the conflict-ridden east, further increasing fears on Sunday that the volatile region could spark a Russian invasion.
It comes after international observers from the OSCE flagged more than 1,500 ceasefire violations on Thursday and Friday alone.
Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine ordered a full military mobilization on Saturday amid intensified violence in the war-torn region, while the evacuation of thousands of civilians into Russia has continued.
The Ukrainian army said two soldiers were killed and four injured on Saturday, the first fatalities in weeks, while mortar shells reportedly exploded near Ukraine’s interior minister as he visited the front line.
Ukraine’s foreign minister strongly denied that Ukrainian shells had landed in Russian territory, in response to reports in Russian media.
