Following a 90-minute call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly believes "the worst is to come" in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, France 24 reports Thursday, per a French presidential aide.
According to the Elysée, Macron also concluded that Putin "wants total control of Ukraine," writes Le Monde's Sylvie Kauffmann. Per Agence France-Presse, the Russian leader appears intent on seizing "the whole" of the country, a French aide said.
The Kremlin also released a statement after the call in which it made clear that "its goals included the demilitarisation and neutrality of Ukraine," Reuters reports. Putin reportedly told Macron "that Russia would achieve the goals of its military intervention in Ukraine whatever happens," Reuters writes.
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The statement also said Moscow's "special intervention" in Ukraine was going "according to plan," and that "any attempts by Kyiv to delay negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials would result in Moscow adding more items to a list of demands it has already set out."
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