Russia-Ukraine war: Putin discusses Kyiv, ceasefire with counterparts Olaf Scholz & Macron

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday spoke with his French and German counterparts Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and President Emmanuel Macron over the phone, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed Russian news agencies. Both Chancellor Scholz and Macron told their Russian counterpart that a diplomatic resolution to the ongoing war is needed as they each urged the Russian leader to come to the negotiation table about Ukraine. The exact time of when the call took place is not disclosed. 

Third round of dialogue yields small positive subductions

Russia’s call with its European counterparts comes as Moscow initiated the third round of negotiations in Belarus to agree on a humanitarian corridor for safe passage of the civilians, and subsequently prospects of a ceasefire. Russian President Putin expressed hope that Kyiv will take a fair and constructive approach as the long-awaited negotiations kick-started with “small positive” developments such as agreement on humanitarian corridors.

The arrangement, though, was marred with controversies after Ukraine slammed that direct such corridors only allowed the refugees to escape to either Russia or its ally Belarus. "The third round of negotiations has ended. There are small positive subductions in improving the logistics of humanitarian corridors,” Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile wrote on Twitter. “Intensive consultations have continued on the basic political bloc of the regulations, along with a cease-fire and security guarantees,” he added. 

The talks had resumed between the delegation from Russia and Ukraine in the Belarusian city of Brest with Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky at the helm of Moscow's delegation and Kyiv's Podolyak leading his aides. The two sides discussed a range of political, military, international humanitarian aid issues as Ukraine witnessed heavy shelling and destruction to the civilian infrastructure. 

Among several conditions put forth by Moscow for a ceasefire, the main suggestion to the Ukraine delegation was to change its Constitution to reject its goal of joining any Western or European alliances such as NATO. In the year 2019, Ukraine's parliament has made amendments to its Constitution that enshrine the nation’s will and roadmap to join NATO. Both Russia and Ukraine initiated the first round of negotiations on Feb. 28 in Gomel, Belarus near the border with Ukraine due to the latter’s reluctance of entering into Russian allied nations. The negotiations lasted for nearly 5 hours. Russia also declared a "temporary" cease-fire in Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv, and Sumy from 10 a.m. local time (0700GMT) to ensure the evacuation of civilians briefly.