French President Emmanuel Macron will receive Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday April 16, according to the Elysee, in a context of rising tensions in Ukraine with a Russian military reinforcement at its borders.
The two presidents will meet during a working lunch at the Elysee Palace, the presidency said.
Read also: Moscow accuses the United States and NATO of turning Ukraine into a "powder keg"
Emmanuel Macron is, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, mediator in the Ukrainian conflict within the framework of the quadripartite dialogue with Russia and Ukraine (called “
Normandy format
”).
The four leaders met in Paris in December 2019, for the first meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky after the latter's election in early 2019. Emmanuel Macron recently discussed Ukraine with Vladimir Putin on March 31. during a joint interview with Angela Merkel.
Ukraine accuses Russia of massing new forces near its eastern border and in Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014 after pro-Western power came to power in Kiev.
The fighting on the front, which was almost at a standstill since a truce concluded in the summer of 2020, has resumed with intensity in recent weeks.
G7 foreign ministers and the EU's foreign minister on Monday called on Russia to stop its "provocations" and to engage in "
de-escalation
".
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also ruled on Tuesday that the "
considerable military strengthening of Russia
" was "
unjustified, inexplicable and deeply worrying
".
For its part, Moscow accused NATO and the United States on Tuesday of turning Ukraine into a "powder keg" and said it was carrying out "
military exercises
" near the Ukrainian borders.
