Russian Prez Putin, France's Macron discuss Ukraine and migrant crisis at Poland-EU border

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron over the telephone to address and discuss the ongoing migrant crisis at the Belarus-EU border. They even talked about the conflicting situations in east Ukraine. As per a statement issued by the Kremlin, Putin stressed on migrant crisis, highlighting exceptionally harsh treatment meted out to refugees by Polish border guards. 

Over their telephonic conversation, Putin told the French President about his recent meetings with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko over issue of migrants. He  further stated that he has asked Belarus and EU nations' authorities to undertake direct discussions on the matter to overcome the humanitarian catastrophe. Furthermore, stressing on Russia-France relations, Putin and Macron welcomed the formal meeting between the two nations' foreign and defense ministers on 12 November in Paris. The leaders even agreed that bilateral interaction on military-political matters should continue.  

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Meanwhile, the situation at the border between Russia and Ukraine is currently unstable. Last week, Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, stated that about 100,000 Russian troops were stationed near the Ukrainian border. The United States and its allies have been disturbed by Russian army movements along boundaries.  

It all started following Russia's invasion in 2014 when the initial conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine. Since then, Russian forces have largely fought with the Ukrainian army via shooting and shelling along the border. As per the Just Security, after the summer of 2014, there were no big military conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, despite the fact that the United Nations had reported over 13,000 persons dead, including civilians and armed groups, as of February 2020, while Ukraine estimated the tally at more than 14,000 as of September this year. 

Refugees surviving without food and water

Hundreds of refugees have been attempting to enter Poland from Belarus but were left in frigid temperatures at the Polish border. As per reports in the media, the Polish border guard announced on Thursday, 11 November that it had registered over 1,000 attempted crossings in only the past two days. Some of the "large-scale" attempts were apparently made, with over 100 individuals attempting to break the barricade. 

(Image: AP)