MOSCOW, May 3rd. Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, the Kremlin press service reported. The Russian leader stressed that Western countries could help stop the crimes of the Ukrainian military and national battalion militants, but instead the EU countries ignore them.
15:42 The Pope said that «NATO barking» could provoke Russia. Putin also informed his colleague about the progress of the special operation to protect Donbass and the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal. In addition, he outlined the fundamental approaches to negotiations with Kyiv and noted that Moscow was open to dialogue, despite the inconsistency of the Ukrainian authorities. Macron, in turn, expressed concern about the emerging problems of global food security. Putin, in response, stressed that the situation is complicated by the sanctions measures of Western countries, and noted the importance of the unimpeded functioning of the global logistics and transport infrastructure. 15:59The aggravation of the situation in the DPR and LPREvacuated from Azovstal: nationalists did not let people out of the plantEarlier, in Mariupol, thanks to the silence regime, several hundred civilians were previously able to withdraw from the territory of the metallurgical plant and from nearby neighborhoods. However, after that, the Ukrainian side began shelling. On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine. As Vladimir Putin stressed, its goal is «to protect people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» According to the Ministry of Defense, the Russian military strikes only on military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, nothing threatens the civilian population. The agency called the liberation of Donbass the main goal of the operation.
