Alain Barluet and William Molinié, edited by Gauthier Delomez 2:10 p.m., February 21, 2022

Westerners have their eyes turned towards eastern Ukraine, where tensions remain high with Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was to meet his American counterpart Joe Biden, but the Kremlin considers the meeting "premature".

Several thousand soldiers are still massed at the border, and the slightest incident is closely scrutinized.

DECRYPTION

The brightening will have been short-lived in eastern Ukraine.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Joe Biden seemed to have agreed to meet around a summit, proposed by France, the Kremlin deemed it "premature" to hold such a meeting.

According to Alain Barluet, Europe 1 and

Figaro

correspondent in Ukraine, this refusal pronounced Monday morning can be seen as Moscow's desire to play master of the clocks, to put pressure, both diplomatically and on the ground.

>> Find Europe midi in replay and podcast here 

A worsening situation in the separatist territories

The correspondent explains that the situation remains very tense on the spot.

According to Russian media and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the situation is getting worse in the pro-Russian separatist territories of Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk.

There is talk of "Ukrainian saboteurs", of "bombardments from Ukrainian lines".

Russia wants to maintain pressure both on the military situation and on diplomacy to obtain satisfaction on its demands, namely the non-enlargement of NATO and the departure of the Alliance's military installations from the periphery. from the country.

The proposal for a summit to try to save time

France tried to organize a summit with the two parties.

“Each day that passes without there being war is a day won for peace”, sums up an adviser to President Emmanuel Macron.

The Head of State's objective is to create opportunities for dialogue and to postpone the prospect of war.

That's why there was this proposed summit between Biden and Putin.

According to the Elysée, the two heads of state agree on the principle, but such a meeting is conditioned by several prerequisites.

First, Russia must not invade Ukraine.

Then there's a whole series of content discussions.

This must be fixed Thursday, during a meeting between the Russian and American foreign ministers.

This summit proposal is a way for Emmanuel Macron and the Europeans to save time and keep the door open to dialogue so that they can subsequently organize a summit on European security with all the stakeholders.

Half of the Kremlin troops in attack position

Security, precisely, is not yet assured in the east of Ukraine.

Airlines, like Air France or Lufthansa, are opting to cancel their flights to and from Kiev.

At the military level, Westerners estimate that there are around 150,000 Russian soldiers along the Ukrainian border, 190,000 including the separatists.

Half of the Kremlin troops are in attack position, according to US intelligence.

The Élysée observes the same elements with a risk that the Russians provoke an incident to legitimize a much broader military intervention.

Moreover, on Monday morning, the FSB, the Russian intelligence service, reported that a shell fired from Ukrainian territory had destroyed a Russian border post.

Information immediately denied by the Ukrainian armed forces.

Tensions are still ongoing, although, according to a French diplomatic source, the last few hours have been rather calm after a very hectic weekend on the front line.

The situation therefore remains very fragile.