In a conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kyiv of “war crimes”, saying Moscow was doing “everything possible” to avoid the deaths of civilians in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
“Attention has been drawn to the numerous war crimes committed daily by Ukrainian security forces, including the massive rocket and artillery shelling of Donbass cities,” the Kremlin said in a statement on the talks between Putin and Macron.
Putin told Macron that “the Russian army is doing everything possible to protect the lives of civilians, including organizing humanitarian corridors for their safe evacuation,” the Kremlin added.
French President Emmanuel Macron, in turn, expressed “extreme concern” over the fate of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol and called for “lifting the siege and providing humanitarian access” to the city, the Elysee Palace said.
During the last of several telephone conversations between the two leaders since the start of the Russian invasion three weeks ago, Macron “reiterated his demand for an immediate ceasefire” in Ukraine, the French president’s office said.