Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu. The last phone call between the two was a year and a half ago.
French President Emmanuel Macron caused a global stir in February when he refused to rule out the use of French ground troops in Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry said after the phone call on Wednesday that ShoigU had explicitly warned LecORNu not to send troops to Ukraine. Possible future negotiations with Ukraine could be based on a proposal discussed during Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul in March 2022.