Zelenskiy - Putin face-to-face for the first time, but with Western accompaniment

(Patria) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris on Monday for the first time since taking office.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also attended the Paris summit, organized by French President Emmanuel Macron.  

The most important item on the agenda was the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which the Ukrainian president promised to resolve during his election campaign.  

More than 13,000 people, including 3,000 civilians, have lost their lives in the five-year conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian security forces and Russian-backed separatists.

The ceasefire established by the 'Minsk' protocol in 2014 has been violated many times, especially near Donetsk and Luhansk.

Macron emphasized at a joint press conference that the fact that the meeting took place at all is an achievement, given the 'lack of concrete progress in recent years'.

Angela Merkel commented that there is still 'a lot of work' to be done, but that there is 'goodwill to resolve difficult issues', adding that she is very satisfied with the meeting.

In a video posted on his Facebook profile last week, Zelenskiy claimed that the meeting is 'already a victory for Ukraine'. He also justified the decision to meet with Putin, even though the Russian president refused to put the annexed Crimean peninsula on the negotiating table, by stating that Russia had released Ukrainian sailors and ships earlier as 'a signal that Russia wants to talk'.

Zelenskiy emphasized that elections could be held in the separatist-held province only if Moscow hands over border control and withdraws troops, which is unlikely given that Russia advocates for special status for eastern Ukraine to continue exerting influence on the country's politics.

The Ukrainian president counts on the political support of France and Germany, as well as the 'strategic dialogue' with Russia initiated by Macron, Euronews reports.