Four Ukrainian
military were killed in the Donbass operation zone, which Kiev blames on
militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
KIEV, August 7.
/TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has told reporters that he held a
phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to
discuss the situation in Donbass. Russia's Kremlin confirmed that the
conversation between the two leaders took place.
"This morning I
spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin," Zelensky told a briefing
following an urgent meeting with security forces, convened after four Ukrainian
military were killed in the Donbass operation zone. "I called him on short
notice. I said that this is not bringing us closer to peace."
Kiev claims the
servicemen in Donbass came under fire launched by militias.
The Ukrainian
president noted that he had asked the Russian leader to exert influence on the
other party to "stop the killings."
After Wednesday’s
telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Ukrainian
president plans to discuss the situation in Donbass with French President
Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"I will make
another phone call from Turkey to President Macron," Zelensky told a news
briefing following an emergency meeting with key military and law enforcement
officials after the death of four Ukrainian servicemen in the area of the
military operation in Donbass. "Also, I plan to contact Chancellor Merkel
in the near future to agree on an urgent meeting."
Zelensky believes
that the Normandy quartet leaders should meet urgently "to look each other
in the eye and bring this war to an end."
On Tuesday, Zelensky
called on the Normandy Four leaders — Russian President Vladimir Putin, German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron — to convene a
meeting as soon as possible to discuss the death of four Ukrainian servicemen,
which Kiev blames on militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
Donetsk has rejected
the claims, stressing that the incident had occurred way beyond the contact
line and not within the militias’ striking range.
On August 7-8,
Zelensky is to pay a visit to Turkey, where he will hold talks with President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and
representatives of the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar communities.
Source: ITAR-TASS
07-08-2019
