On April 16, in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in person and with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who joined by video-link midway through the conversation.
The three leaders’ shared goal at this juncture is to defuse the perceived threat of Russian military action against Ukraine. The Kremlin has orchestrated this war scare by concentrating massive forces near Ukraine’s borders and in occupied Crimea, with high publicity and dire rhetorical threats. The aim is to intimidate Ukraine into compliance with the 2015 Minsk “agreements” and have Berlin and Paris ratify that compliance through the quadripartite Normandy process (Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France).