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French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone call Sunday on the need to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis, the French leader's office said.

The foreign ministers of the two countries will meet for this purpose and work to organize a summit at the highest level with Russia, Ukraine and allies to establish a new security order in Europe, the Elysee Palace said.

Both leaders expressed serious concerns about the worsening of the situation in Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, while the Russian president blamed the Ukrainian forces for the escalation of the conflict, denouncing the militarization of Ukraine by NATO.

Following the indications of both presidents, the Russian Foreign Minister, Serguei Lavrov;

and his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, will have a phone call tomorrow, Monday.

The French mediation in search of a way out comes as Ukraine sinks into the same atmosphere of warfare as in 2014. This Sunday, media reported explosions in the center of Donetsk, the main capital of eastern Donbass controlled by French-backed separatists. Russia, in addition to heavy bombing in other parts of the region.

The most pessimistic predictions arrive one more day from Washington.

According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken,

everything indicates that Russia is on the brink of invading Ukraine

.

Even so, he promised that Washington would take every opportunity until the last minute to see if diplomacy deters Moscow from going ahead with its war plans.

Various Western leaders have been warning of an imminent Russian intervention in Ukraine, estimating that more than 150,000 Russian soldiers have surrounded the country.

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky, who spoke with Macron on Saturday, today called for an immediate ceasefire in the eastern part of the country.

In Ukraine, the tension also reaches across the border.

Belarus announced early that the joint military exercises with Russia that have been taking place on its territory for 10 days, and that should have ended this Sunday, will continue.

The justification: the growing tensions with the West and the conflict in neighboring Ukraine.

NATO claims that Russia has up to 30,000 soldiers in Belarus

and could use them as part of an invasion force to attack Ukraine.

Russia denies this, despite troop deployments, which it claims to be partially withdrawing.

But he insists that the security architecture of Eastern Europe must be renegotiated and threatens a technical-military response if his demands are not met.

RUSSIAN SOLDIERS ARE NOT GOING AWAY

Belarus, which is the main ally of the Russians in this crisis, argued that Minsk and Moscow are trying to avoid a war.

According to Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin, during the drills the troops were trained in repelling external aggression through a defensive operation, dealing with terrorism and defending the interests of Russia and Belarus.

Khrenin denounced that

the countries bordering Belarus and Russia "are being stuffed with advanced weapons"

, above all, offensive weapons, and that they amass numerous troops on their territory.

In addition, the number of "unclear maneuvers and operations taking place near the borders" and "clearly targeting Russia and Belarus" has multiplied.

"The idea of ​​an impending war with the 'neighbours to the east' has penetrated deep into the collective consciousness of the West

," according to Khrenin's analysis.

Along the same lines, according to the Kremlin statement on the conversation, Putin denounced in his talk with Macron that Kiev opts for the military resolution of the conflict and that, as a result, "the civilian population of the people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk suffers who

are forced to evacuate to Russia

to save themselves from intensifying attacks."

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  • Emmanuel Macron

  • Vladimir Putin

  • Europe

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