Ukraine war: Macron, Scholz ask Putin to free captured Azovstal fighters

Russian President Vladimir Putin Putin chairs a meeting of the State Council in the Kremlin on 25 May 2022 - Copyright Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

By Euronews with AP, AFP

Published on 28/05/2022 - 09:47•Updated 20:26

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Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged that the Donbas will remain Ukrainian as fighting intensified around several cities and towns in the eastern region.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron had an 80-minute telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin on Saturday. The two asked for the release of some 2,500 Ukrainian fighters who surrendered at the Azovstal steel mill, ending the siege of the southern port city of Mariupol.

While Moscow claims to have taken the strategic town of Lyman and the fighting for Sievierodonetsk continues to rage, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia should not think that it will be holding the cities as they will eventually return to Ukraine.