Xinhua News Agency, Moscow, February 20 (Reporter Yellow River) Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron held a phone call on the 20th. The two sides agreed that the Ukraine issue should be resolved through diplomatic channels.
The Russian President's website released a message on the same day that the leaders of the two countries expressed serious concern over the sharp deterioration of the situation in the contact line in eastern Ukraine during the call.
The two sides believe that a solution should be sought through diplomatic channels under the "Normandy Model" to achieve a ceasefire and gradually resolve the conflict.
Putin said that the reason for the escalation of tensions in eastern Ukraine was the provocation of the Ukrainian government forces.
NATO has continuously provided the Ukrainian government with modern weapons and ammunition to promote Ukrainian military measures.
As a result, civilians in the Udong region were suffering, and they were forced to evacuate to Russia to avoid the intensifying artillery fire.
Putin criticized the Ukrainian side for a negotiating gesture and said the Minsk agreement was never implemented.
According to a press communiqué issued by the French Presidential Palace on the 20th, Macron and Putin firmly promised during the call that they will take all beneficial actions to avoid escalation, reduce risks and maintain peace.
Both sides agreed to give priority to resolving the current crisis through diplomatic channels, including resuming work under the "Normandy model"; pushing for a tripartite contact group on Ukraine (Ukraine, Russia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) to meet in the next few hours to reach a ceasefire commitment, etc. .
The communique said that Macron also had phone calls with Ukrainian President Zelensky on the 19th and 20th respectively, and Zelensky said that he would not respond to the provocation and abide by the ceasefire agreement.
On the 18th of this month, an explosion occurred at the seat of the government of the "Donetsk People's Republic", which was established by the civilian armed forces in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian civilian armed forces subsequently announced that due to the danger of Ukraine launching a military operation, a large-scale evacuation of local residents to Russia will be carried out from now on.
The government of the southern Russian state of Rostov announced on the 19th that due to the continuous increase in the influx of refugees from the Udong region, the state entered a state of emergency with immediate effect.
In April 2014, a large-scale armed conflict between Ukrainian government forces and civilian armed forces broke out in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Through the mediation of the international community, the two parties to the conflict reached a ceasefire agreement in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, in September 2014 and February 2015 respectively.
Since then, large-scale armed conflicts in the Udong area have been brought under control, but small-scale exchanges of fire have occurred from time to time.
(Participating reporter: Xu Yongchun)