President of France, Emmanuel Macron, spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin via a phone call, warning him that his invasion of Ukraine was a big mistake.
Putin then said in his 90-minute conversation with Macron that he was prepared to go “all the way”, with the French President warning that “the worst is yet to come”.
Putin wants whole of Ukraine
An aide to the French president said:
“The expectation of the president is that the worst is to come, given what President Putin told him. There was nothing in what President Putin told us that should reassure us. He showed great determination to continue the operation.”
He added that Putin “wanted to seize control of the whole of Ukraine. He will, in his own words, carry out his operation to ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine to the end. You can understand the extent to which these words are shocking and unacceptable and the president told him that it was lies.”
President Macron appealed to Putin to allowed humanitarian aid to the civilians and to avoid further civilian casualties, with Putin replying that he was in favor of that but stopped short of making commitments.
Growing desperation
Mick Ryan, a retired Major General of the Australian army, said that he believes that the horrors of the war so far are just the tip of the iceberg.
He said:
“We’ll see an escalation in violence as the Russians prosecute this Battle of the Cities.
We have seen their growing desperation for tactical success through their use of artillery, rockets and possibly thermobaric weapons in & around civilian areas in the past 24 hours.”
16/25 We'll see an escalation in violence as the Russians prosecute this Battle of the Cities. We have seen their growing desperation for tactical success through their use of artillery, rockets and possibly thermobaric weapons in & around civilian areas in the past 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/KcWHYAnzws
— Major General (just retired!) Mick Ryan (@WarintheFuture) March 3, 2022
Second round of negotiations wtih Russia
According to CNN, a second round of peace talks is underway, with a Russian delegation meeting with Ukrainian negotiators in Belarus.
A Ukrainian presidential advisor, Mykhaylo Podolyak, said that they are seeking a ceasefire immediately to allow civliiains to leave the frontlines via humanitarian corridors, according to The Guardian.