BERLIN, 10 February 2022, (TON): French President Emmanuel Macron said “he saw a path forward on easing tensions with Russia over Ukraine, after conducting an urgent round of shuttle diplomacy between Moscow and Kiev.”

Macron held talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev a day after a five-hour meeting at the Kremlin with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, as the West scrambles to defuse fears Moscow could invade its ex-Soviet neighbour.

The French leader said he now saw the possibility for talks involving Moscow and Kiev over the festering conflict in eastern Ukraine to move forward, and concrete, practical solutions to lower tensions between Russia and the West.

Macron said at a joint press conference after meeting Zelensky “we cannot underestimate the moment of tension that we are living through.”

He said “we cannot resolve this crisis in a few hours of talks.”

“It will be the day and the weeks and the months to come that will allow us to progress.”

Macron said Putin had told him that Russia would not be the source of an escalation, in the situation, despite amassing more than 100,000 troops and military hardware on Ukraine’s border.