Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron at the French side’s initiative, the Kremlin reports.
The two leaders had in an in-depth and frank exchange of views on the situation in and around Ukraine, particularly on the matter of providing security at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant.
The Russian side drew attention to Ukraine’s regular shelling of the plant’s facilities, including nuclear waste disposal storage, which can lead to catastrophic consequences. The Russian President mentioned measures undertaken by Russian specialists to ensure the plant’s physical security and stressed the need to put pressure on Kiev to stop the shelling of the nuclear power plant immediately. Both sides expressed their willingness to eschew political bias to work together on the situation around the Zaporozhye NPP with IAEA involvement.
Vladimir Putin further stressed the fact that Ukrainian armed forces have been using weapons supplied by the West to specifically target non-military infrastructure in Donbass cities, leading to the suffering of civilians.
In discussing the issue of global food security, it was reaffirmed that the grain being exported from the Black Sea ports should be exported to developing countries first. With this goal in mind, it is of utmost importance for the European Commission to avoid impeding shipments of Russian agricultural products and fertilisers to the markets of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
It was agreed to maintain dialogue on the issues discussed at various levels, including the ministerial level.
