MERKEL, MACRON TELL PUTIN: PULL OUT RUSS TROOPS FROM UKRAINE BORDER

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday called on Russia to withdraw its troops that have been amassing on the Ukrainian border, Rachel Bossmeyer, Johannes Neudecker and Christian Thiele reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

The two leaders met online for crisis talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the recent worsening of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has been on a low simmer for seven years.

German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said Merkel told her counterparts that a Russian troop pullback was key to de-escalating the situation, an appeal echoed by Macron.

Russia was not invited to Friday's talks, but sources close to the French government said the parties believe Russia should be brought back to the negotiating table.

After the meeting, Zelensky said he hoped to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit at some point. France hosted the talks, with the primary aim to get a shaky ceasefire to stick in the region.

Zelensky said the discussion mostly focused on how to gradually implement the peace plan for Ukraine's eastern Donbass region that was agreed in 2015.

Fears are growing about a flare-up in the conflict that erupted in 2014 as Russian forces annexed the Crimean peninsula and fighting began between the Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatist rebels.

Parts of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions along the Russian border have been controlled by rebels supported by Moscow for nearly seven years. A recent significant build-up of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine has raised alarm in Europe and led to a fresh diplomatic push in relation to the conflict. New consultation-level talks, with Franco-German mediation, are planned for Monday, according to Zelensky.

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