As Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, diplomacy seems to be actively entering the game while both sides are moving towards sanctions and retaliation.

It was announced on Monday that the French president had a marathon telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, while it was announced that Emmanuel Macron has spoken several times in recent hours with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zalensky. Meanwhile, in Belarus, the two sides, Russia and Ukraine have concluded the first round of talks.

According to a statement by the Presidency of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron reiterated the urgent demand of the international community to stop the Russian aggression against Ukraine and reiterated the need for an immediate ceasefire. For the duration of the talks between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine, the French President called for the following to be implemented: Firstly, an immediate cessation of all attacks on civilians, secondly, protection of the urban infrastructure and thirdly, securing the roads, especially those south of Kiev.

According to the Elysian Fields statement, President Putin said he was willing to respect these three conditions. The President of France also called for respect for international humanitarian law, the protection of the civilian population and the unimpeded provision of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The French President suggested that the Russian President should stay in touch with him in the coming days in order to avoid any deterioration of the situation. According to the French statement, President Putin agreed to this as well.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron today that he is calling for the recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, the “denazification” of the Ukrainian government and a “neutral status” for Kiev as a precondition for ending the invasion of Ukraine.

Putin called for “recognition of Russian sovereignty in Crimea, the achievement of demilitarization and denazification of the Ukrainian state and the guarantee of its neutral status” to allow a settlement, the Kremlin said in a statement after a telephone conversation between the two heads of state.

The Russian president stressed that a resolution of the conflict “is not possible unless Russia's legitimate security interests are unconditionally taken into account”, according to the Kremlin.

“The Russian side is open to negotiations with representatives of Ukraine and hopes that they will lead to the expected results”, the Russian presidency assured.

Macron and Putin refer to the talks between Kiev and Moscow that started a few hours ago in Belarus. Before they began, the Kremlin had said it did not want to “announce” its position, while Ukraine is calling for an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces.

The negotiations are taking place as the Russian offensive, which began on 24 February, is being met with resistance from the Ukrainian army and sanctions of unprecedented scale, adopted by Western countries, are shaking the Russian economy.

According to the Russian news agency RT, the Russian President set the following conditions for the de-escalation:

1) Recognition of Russian sovereignty in Crimea

2) Demilitarization of the Ukrainian state

3) Denazification of the Ukrainian state

4) Ensuring Ukraine's neutral status

Finally, it seems that Macron asked Putin to stay in touch in the coming days and he agreed.

The talks in Belarus between Russians and Ukrainians

Peace talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Belarus ended in the afternoon, according to a Ukrainian official quoted by the Agence France-Presse.

The delegations are returning to the capitals of the two countries and, according to the same source, a second round of talks will follow in the coming days.

In this first phase of the negotiations, Russia and Ukraine identified a number of priority issues to be resolved, while specific decisions were «outlined», sputniknews.gr reported.

«We have identified issues on which we can expect agreement,» said the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky.

Earlier, the office of Volodymyr Zelenksyi said that «the main issue of the negotiations is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops from the territory of Ukraine».

Germany «welcomes» the Russia-Ukraine talks

The German government welcomes in principle the talks between Russia and Ukraine, government spokesman Stephen Hebeestright said earlier today.

«Diplomatic solutions are always the only reasonable solutions,» the spokesman said, adding that everyone is certainly aware that these are very difficult talks, which may take a long time.