The President of Russia on Saturday criticised what he said was the “flagrant violation” of international humanitarian law by the Ukrainian military as he held talks over the phone with the French and German leaders, the Kremlin said.
The Kremlin released a statement, stating, “Putin informed (them) about the real state of affairs” in Ukraine. In specific, numerous examples of the flagrant violation of the norms of international humanitarian law by Ukrainian security forces were cited,” the report added.
The Kremlin said that Putin blamed the Ukrainian army for “extrajudicial executions of dissenters” and “taking hostages and using civilians as human shields”.
He also claimed that the Ukrainian army was deploying heavy arms as well as weapons near schools, hospitals and kindergartens.
The Kremlin added that, “At the same time, nationalist battalions are systematically disturbing operations to save the population, intimidating civilians during evacuation attempts.”
The Kremlin further added that Putin urged French leader Emmanuel Macron & German leader Olaf Scholz to push Kyiv authorities into stopping these “criminal activities.”
The Russian president also informed Emmanuel Macron as well as Scholz about talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators.
Without providing any further details, the Kremlin said, “In this connection, the leaders of the three countries addressed some issues related to the agreements being worked out on the implementation of well-known Russian demands.”
