Zelenskiy again calls Russia for ceasefire and emergency talks

Zelenskiy also said Kiev would hold an immediate “meeting of the so-called Trelateral Contact Group, which was formed in order to find a diplomatic solution after the start of the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists east of Ukraine in 2014.

Western leaders say Russia, which has deployed tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine, including in neighbouring Belarus, is now planning a large-scale attack. Moscow denies that there are plans for invasion.

“We are for intensifying the peace process”, Zelenskiy said through a Twitter post.

“We support the immediate call of a meeting of the Trelateral Contact Group and that immediately a silence regime” be established, he added.

These comments were made after his conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Macro has also talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Elize Palace said this conversation was “the final possible and necessary effort to avoid a major conflict in Ukraine”.

No details were made public by the conversation between Macron and Putin.

Ukraine, Russia and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSBE) are part of the Trelateral Contact Group.

During the night between February 19th and 20th, there have been reports of many bombings in the so-called <x0 contact lines” between the Ukrainian Army and separatists supported by Russia east of Ukraine.

O Monitoring Mission The SEU has reported on a dramatic “achievement of ceasefire violations east of Ukraine.

Ukraine has said that two Ukrainian soldiers were killed during an attack, but Zelenski has pledged that Ukrainian forces would not respond to provocations. / REL