Zelensky, Putin discuss escalation in Donbas

"This morning, I had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. I called him urgently and said that those developments did not bring us closer to peace,” Zelensky said at a briefing on Wednesday, August 7, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The President of Ukraine added that he urged Putin to influence the other party and make them stop killing Ukrainians.

The return of political prisoners, the need to reduce the time of construction of a bridge in Stanytsia Luhanska and other issues were touched upon, Zelensky added.

"Everybody says they want peace, but apart from words, we have to move very fast. Today, my first call was made to the President of the Russian Federation. The second call will be made to President Macron," the Head of State said.

He also added that he would try to urgently contact German Chancellor Angela Merkel so that the meeting of the Normandy Four leaders would take place as soon as possible, not by the year-end as planned before.

As reported, on August 6, four Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian occupation troops fired at the positions of the Ukrainian Joint Forces near Pavlopil, Donetsk region.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called on the leaders of the Normandy format participating countries to resume negotiations as soon as possible because of the violation of ceasefire on part of the Russian occupation forces and the death of four Ukrainian soldiers.

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