Putin, Merkel and Macron Discuss Eastern Ukraine Crisis in Phone Call
Conversation also focused on the change of leadership in Kiev after Volodymyr Zelenskiy was elected president last month, Kremlin says
President Vladimir Putin discussed the conflict in eastern Ukraine with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France's Emmanuel Macron in a phone call on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
The Kremlin said the call focused in part on the change of leadership in Kiev after Volodymyr Zelenskiy was elected president last month.
>> Read more: Ukraine's new leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy has one clear advantage | Analysis ■ Ukraine just elected its first Jewish president. Here’s why it’s not an issue
Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia have held four-way talks in a bid to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists that has killed 13,000 people since 2014.
Meanwhile, Zelenskiy has signed a decree for snap parliamentary elections on July 21, state media reported on Tuesday.
Immediately after his inauguration this week, Zelenskiy called for the national parliament to be disbanded as many of its members have connections with the former president.
Zelenskiy was previously a television actor who campaigned as an alternative to a political establishment that has long struggled with entrenched corruption.
- Ukraine's new president signs decree to hold early parliamentary elections
- Ukrainian President Zelenskiy sworn in, says dissolving parliament
- Poll finds deep divisions among Ukrainian Jews on threat of anti-Semitism
He won the run-off election against former president Petro Poroshenko last month with about three-quarters of the votes.