Ukraine crisis pledges to stop escalation and push for dialogue between Moscow and Kiev

The President of Ukraine announced that he expects to hold a summit soon with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany, and statements were issued by the Kremlin stressing the need to stop the escalation, while French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that both the Russian and Ukrainian presidents pledged to abide by the Minsk agreements.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that "the presidents of Russia and Ukraine have pledged to abide by the Minsk agreements."

"We now have the possibility to push the negotiations forward," Macron told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a press conference after their talks in Kiev.

The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany signed the Minsk Agreements in 2014 and 2015 in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

The agreements include a goal to end the separatist war waged by Russian speakers in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.

Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops near its border with Ukraine, but denies any plans to invade Ukraine.

For his part, Ukrainian President Zelensky announced on Tuesday that he expects to hold a summit soon with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany, after he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Kiev.

"We expect in the near future to be able to hold the next talks between the leaders of the Normandy Quartet format," Zelensky said during a press conference, referring to the negotiations aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

In this context, the Russian presidency stressed the need for de-escalation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, "Stopping the escalation is extremely necessary and required to the fullest, because tension increases from day to day," according to the website of Russia Today.

Peskov considered that the West's supply of weapons to Ukraine "is one of the reasons for the growing tension."

"We see that Western countries are sending troops to Ukraine and planes loaded with weapons and military equipment," he added.

He pointed out that Kiev "is organizing maneuvers in which it tries new types of technologies that it receives, and of course all this leads to additional tensions."

The Kremlin's statements came while European media, including Euronews, reported that French President Emmanuel Macron "received confirmation of non-escalation in the Ukraine file from his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin."

And on Monday, Putin said that "the meeting with Macron was held in a practical way and was very useful," after talks between the two presidents lasted about 5 hours, and the Ukraine file was at the top of its agenda.

Recently, Western countries, led by the United States, accused Russia of massing its forces near the Ukrainian border, and Washington threatened to impose sanctions on Moscow if it launched an attack on Ukraine.

Russia rejects the accusations about the movements of its forces inside its territory, and denies the existence of any aggressive plans it has towards Ukraine.