Presidents of Russia and France Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron. File photoPARIS, June 3 French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview that he spent about 100 hours on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the situation in Ukraine. «I lost count of the conversations with Vladimir Putin that I have spent since December. About a hundred hours in total,» Ouest France quoted Macron as saying. to PutinThe French President noted that he did not hide the fact of negotiations with Vladimir Putin and maintained contact with the Russian leader at the request of Vladimir Zelensky. the head of France. According to Macron, France's role is to be «an intermediary power.» Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
