Putin did not show willingness to end Ukraine war during call, French official says

Vladimir Putin did not show a willingness to end the war with Ukraine during a call on Saturday with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz, a French presidency official said.

Scholz and Macron called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine during the 75-minute phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin, a German government spokesman added.

Crisis talks between Moscow and Kyiv, which had been conducted in person in Belarus, have continued via a video link, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday, according to the RIA news agency.

Speaking at a news briefing, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian and Russian negotiating teams had started discussing concrete topics rather than exchanging ultimatums.

Stating that about 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed since the invasion began, he claimed the conflict meant some small Ukrainian towns now no longer existed.

He further suggested negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end the war could be held in Jerusalem.

Bennett visited Moscow on 5 March, spending three hours with Putin before travelling on to Berlin to brief Scholz. He has spoken to Zelenskiy on multiple occasions since.