Keep the thread but without hope of de-escalation.
Faithful to his conviction that despite their radically opposed positions on the war in Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron continues, as he announced from the first hours of the Russian offensive at the end of February, to exchange with Vladimir Putin.
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While on the ground the Russian leader's army continues to advance, to the point this Friday of expanding the number of cities affected a little more, and of martyring the Ukrainians, Vladimir Putin, during an interview in the morning with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, accused kyiv of "dragging" negotiations around a ceasefire.
Putin will go all the way
An unfounded accusation, since in the talks with the other camp Russia imposes a Ukrainian surrender and the establishment of total neutrality for the country.
Requirements already rejected by kyiv, and which therefore do not bode well for Putin's possible inclination during his upcoming interview with Emmanuel Macron.
The phone call should start at 5 p.m., while the French president is on a campaign trip to Pau - the day after the presentation of his program for re-election.
During the last exchange between the two leaders, on March 6, Putin and Macron, then at the initiative of the phone call, had remained online for 1h45.
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Nearly two hours of discussion which had led to the bitter observation of the French president: Putin will achieve his objectives in Ukraine, “either by negotiation or by war”.
The bombardments of the last few days, the additional deaths and the failure of talks have unfortunately since confirmed this.