France says Macron, Putin agree to work for east Ukraine ceasefire

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Sunday agreed to work for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, Macron’s office said.

In a phone conversation lasting 105 minutes, they also agreed on “the need to favour a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis and to do everything to achieve one”, the Elysee said, adding that French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov would meet “in the coming days”.

Putin and Macron said they would work “intensely” to allow the Trilateral Contact Group, which includes Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, to meet “in the next few hours with the aim of getting all interested parties to commit to a ceasefire at the contact line” in eastern Ukraine where government troops and pro-Russian separatists are facing each other.

“Intense diplomatic work will take place in the coming days,” Macron’s office said, with several consultations to take place in the French capital.

Macron and Putin also agreed that talks between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany should resume to implement the so-called Minsk protocol which in 2014 had already called for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

Both also agreed to work towards “a high-level meeting with the aim of defining a new peace and security order in Europe”, Macron’s office said.