The telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Russian head of state Vladimir Putin lasted almost two hours .
Putinhe accused the "Ukrainian nationalists" of systematically interrupting the rescue and evacuation operations from the besieged cities and called on France and Germany to use their influence to persuade Kiev to stop the "criminal actions" of their troops. He also denounced "flagrant violations" of humanitarian law by Ukrainian troops: "Extrajudicial killings of opponents", "kidnapping of civilian hostages" and their "use as human shields", as well as "the deployment of heavy weapons in residential areas," close to hospitals, schools and kindergartens ". The Kremlin also announced that "the president of Russia spoke in detail about the series of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegates that took place in recent days in video format.
Macron branded Putin's allegations of human rights violations against Ukraine as " lies " and called for Moscow to implement a ceasefire and greater efforts for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. A press release from the German chancellery explains that the two Western leaders have pressed on Putin asking for an immediate truce and adds that "silence has been agreed on other contents of the conversation". The three leaders finally agreed to continue to keep in touch on the conflict in Ukraine.
UN: over 500 civilians killed
Meanwhile, according to the United Nations, 579 civilians have been killed since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including 42 children, and another 1,002 have been injured. "Most of these civilians have been
hit by powerful explosive weapons such as heavy artillery bombs, multiple rocket launchers and aircraft-launched missiles," the UN says. According to the organization's Human Rights Office, the number of dead and
injured is "far higher, especially in the government-controlled territories (of Kiev, ed) and especially in recent days", with the conflict that it intensified in places such as Kharkiv, Mariupol and Donetsk, "where according to some sources there are hundreds of civilian deaths and injuries".