Ukraine settlement: Macron visits Kyiv

KYIV – February 8 (ONLINE): France’s Emmanuel Macron is travelling to Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seeking a breakthrough in the East-West deadlock over Ukraine.

The Tuesday meeting comes a day after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow for discussions that lasted more than five hours, marking the highest-profile intervention yet by a Western leader.

“The next few days will be decisive and will require intensive discussions which we will pursue together,” Macron told reporters after meeting Putin.

The French president said he had made proposals of “concrete security guarantees” to Putin, who suggested some of the ideas could help ease the crisis.

The French and Russian leaders voiced guarded optimism for a breakthrough.

According to media reports, Macron made proposals of “concrete security guarantees” to Putin, including an engagement from both sides against new military action, the launching of a new strategic dialogue and efforts to revive the peace process in Kyiv’s conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Putin promised Macron that Moscow will not carry out new military initiatives near Ukraine for the time being as a precursor to possible de-escalation, a French official has reportedly said.