French President Emmanuel Macron will meet this Sunday with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to try to avoid an invasion of Ukraine that is feared imminent due to the increase in tension and evacuations on the front line.
After their personal meeting on February 7 in Moscow, this conversation scheduled for 10:00 GMT (5:00 a.m. Colombian time) between the two leaders is part of “the last possible and necessary efforts to avoid a major conflict in Ukraine,” he said. the French presidency.
With more than 150,000 soldiers on the border and the strength of separatist rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, Russia can launch an attack on its neighbor pro-Western “at any moment”, repeatedly warns the United States.
Joe Biden
Its President Joe Biden will participate in a rare Ukraine-focused National Security Council meeting on Sunday, days before a meeting between his Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov scheduled for Thursday if war does not break out sooner.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced in a statement Saturday afternoon that Biden has decided to call that meeting “about the situation in
Ukraine”.
But the forecasts are not optimistic. “All signs indicate that Russia is planning an all-out attack on UkraineNATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Saturday.
(You can read: Russia tested missiles; NATO and the US warn of an ‘imminent attack’ on Ukraine).
Putin and Macron
Before chatting with Putin, Macron met on Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski, who assured that “he would not respond to provocations” by Russia on the front line with the Donbas separatists, according to the Elysee, seat of the presidency of France. He would also have asked Macron to indicate to Putin “Ukraine’s availability for dialogue,” the French presidency added.
“A Russian military action against Ukraine would take the war to the heart of Europe“Insisted an adviser to the French presidency, warning of a risk of conflict “in Ukraine and its surroundings.” There would then be “no other possible option than a very strong reaction,” he added.
tension in the front
On the ground, however, the escalation of tension is constant. Pro-Russian separatists in Donbas, who accuse Kiev of wanting to attack them, announced a “general mobilization” of men capable of fighting and ordered an evacuation of civilians to neighboring regions of Russia.
In the night from Saturday to Sunday, Russian agencies reported artillery fire on the outskirts of Donetsk, near the front line. And the OSCE observers, in charge of ensuring the ceasefire in the area, warned of an increase in violations of that agreement.
The Kremlin denies harboring hostile intentions towards Kiev, but demands NATO guarantees for its security, such as the withdrawal of its military infrastructure from Eastern Europe and a commitment that Ukraine will never enter the transatlantic alliance.
(We recommend: How to protect the sovereignty of Ukraine).
On Ukraine’s eastern front, fighting is raging, with Kiev and separatist rebels accusing each other of poisoning the conflict that has caused more than 14,000 deaths since 2014. The Russian region of Rostov, on the border with Ukraine, declared the state of urgency to deal with a possible influx of refugees.
According to the latest rebel figures, more than 22,000 people were evacuated to Russia from the front areawhere hundreds of thousands of people live.
For almost three months, Washington has not stopped issuing warnings about the preparations for a Russian offensive in Ukraine. On Friday, Biden said he was “convinced” that Putin had made the decision to invade the country. From Munich, at a major security conference, Zelensky sent a calmer message, saying “there is no need to panic”, although he also called on the West to abandon Russia’s “appeasement” policy and increase its military aid to Kiev.
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*With information from AFP and EFE
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