As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, Emmanuel Macron, the French President, held new telephone talks today with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This call was the fourth time they had spoken since the invasion started and was shorter than their last call, lasting approximately 1 hour 45 minutes.
Emmanuel Macron is keen to have a positive result in talks with Putin as France’s youngest leader since Napoleon seeks reelection. Yet, this is looking increasingly unlikely because as days pass the French leader is facing increased internal pressures not to appease Putin in the way he has in negotiations thus far conducted.
Earlier in the day, Putin had talks with the Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan, who, according to media reports appealed for a ceasefire in the conflict. Putin told the Turkish leader he would only halt the Russian military operations if Ukraine stopped fighting and the Russian demands were met,. According to the Kremlin, Putin claimed the operation was going according to plan and was on schedule. The statement also stated that Putin hoped Ukrainian negotiators would take a more constructive approach at talks and take into account the reality on the ground. Turkey currently has rejected applying any economic or trade sanctions on Russia, saying it believes these are counterproductive. Whilst it has supplied drones to Ukraine, it is still continuing other products to Russia as it maintains its current political stance.
The civilian airport at Vinnytsia airport has been destroyed by Russian forces, confirmed by the local authorities. According to Chatham House head of research, Orysia Lutsevych, Putin has done this to stop humanitarian supplies being flown into the country.
Earlier in the conflict, the civilian airport at Mariupol was attacked and destroyed by the Russian forces which prevented humanitarian evacuation flights from taking place. Elsewhere, joint military and civilian airports have been attacked, such as Gostomel Airport, which appeared to be attacked by Russian helicopter gunships.
According to German reports, the US is working on a possible deal with Poland, to supply them with more aircraft, if the Polish supply the Ukrainian air force with Russian made MIG fighter jets, which its pilots are trained to fly.