Russian President Vladimir Putin met, on Monday, his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for the first time, during a summit in Paris aimed at supporting efforts to restore peace in eastern Ukraine, according to Reuters.
The two leaders held talks with the participation of France and Germany leaders as part of a renewed effort to end a conflict that has claimed more than 13,000 lives since 2014.
After a series of bilateral meetings at the Elysee palace, Putin and Zelenskiy entered the room for a meeting of the four leaders making little eye contact with one another and with no smiles. They did not shake hands for the cameras.
"The main issue is the question of confidence-building so that we can move towards the goal of restoring Ukraine's sovereignty," a French diplomatic source said.
It is worth mentioning, many Ukrainians are concerned about the agreement with Russia, seeing Putin as an aggressor seeking to restore the influence of the Kremlin on their country, one of the republics of the former Soviet Union.
Ukrainian officials said Kiev wants to reach an agreement on a lasting cease-fire in the Donbass region, a complete exchange of prisoners and a timeframe for the withdrawal of all illegal armed forces from the regions controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.
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