BERLIN
\nEuropean leaders pledged unity in their goal of averting war on the continent, as France s President Emmanuel Macron said he saw a path forward on easing tensions with Russia over Ukraine after an urgent round of shuttle diplomacy.
\nArriving in Berlin after two days of talks that took him to Kyiv and Moscow, Macron urged continued \u201cfirm dialogue\u201d with Russia as the only way to defuse fears Russia could invade its ex-Soviet neighbour.
\nThe French leader, who on Monday had a five-hour meeting with Vladimir Putin, said the Russian president had told him that Russia \u201cwould not be the source of an escalation\u201d, despite amassing more than 100,000 troops and military hardware on Ukraine s border.
\nMacron said he now saw the \u201cpossibility\u201d for talks involving Moscow and Kyiv over the festering conflict in eastern Ukraine to move forward, and \u201cconcrete, practical solutions\u201d to lower tensions between Russia and the West.
\n\u201cWe must find ways and means together to engage in a firm dialogue with Russia,\u201d he said in Berlin, where he was to debrief German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish leader Andrzej Duda on his Kremlin meeting and his talks with Ukraine s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
\nStanding alongside Macron and Duda, Scholz stressed the trio \u201care united by the goal of maintaining peace in Europe through diplomacy and clear messages and the shared will to act in unison\u201d.
\nThe Polish leader said he believed that war could still be averted.
\n\u201cWe have to find a solution to avoid war,\u201d said Duda. \u201cAs I ve said, this is currently our main task. I believe that we will achieve it. In my opinion what s most important today is unity and solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BERLIN European leaders pledged unity in their goal of averting war on the continent, as France s President Emmanuel Macron said he saw a path forward on easing tensions with Russia over Ukraine after an urgent round of shuttle diplomacy. Arriving in Berlin after two days of talks that took him to Kyiv and Moscow, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-243569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n