Alwaght- Russian President warned on Saturday French President and German Chancellor against increased arms supplies to Ukraine, saying it could lead to further destabilization.
Vladimir Putin made his comments during a three-way telephone call with the Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz in which he warned against the continued transfers of Western weapons to Ukraine, and blamed the conflict’s disruption to global food supplies on Western sanctions, the Kremlin said.
Putin told Macron and Scholz that continuing arms supplies to Ukraine was “dangerous”, and he warned “of the risks of further destabilization of the situation and aggravation of the humanitarian crisis”, the Kremlin said.
Putin also has emphasized during an “in-depth exchange of views” with Macron and Scholz that Russia was working to “establish a peaceful life in Mariupol and other liberated cities in the Donbas” – the Ukrainian region where Russian forces are now fighting for full control.
During the 80-minute call, Macron and Scholz in return urged an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine and a withdrawal of Russian troops from the country, according to the German chancellor’s spokesperson.
The European leaders also urged Putin to engage in serious and direct negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to end the fighting, the spokesperson said.
The French president’s report on Friday’s call noted that Macron and Scholz also asked Putin to release the estimated 2,500 Ukrainian fighters who held out for weeks inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol and later surrendered to the Russian army.