Macron sees ‘concrete solutions’ to easing tensions with Russia over Ukraine crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday he saw a path forward on easing tensions with Russia over Ukraine, after conducting an urgent round of shuttle diplomacy between Moscow and Kyiv, France 24 reports.

The French leader said he now saw the “possibility” for talks involving Moscow and Kyiv over the festering conflict in the east of the country to move forward, and “concrete, practical solutions” to lower tensions between Russia and the West.

Macron held talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv a day after a five-hour meeting at the Kremlin with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

“We cannot under-estimate the moment of tension that we are living through,” Macron said at a joint press conference after meeting Zelensky.

“We cannot resolve this crisis in a few hours of talks,” he said. “It will be the day and the weeks and the months to come that will allow us to progress.”

Macron said the leaders of both Russia and Ukraine had committed to honoring the Minsk accords.

The Minsk set of agreements were signed in 2014 and 2015 by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany in a bid to end war in the Donbas region of Ukraine.