PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Moscow and Kyiv to meet his counterparts early next week, his office said on Friday, in the highest profile effort by a Western leader to deescalate the Ukraine crisis.
Macron will go to Russia on Monday to meet President Vladimir Putin and to Ukraine on Tuesday for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The French president, who has called for a deescalation in the crisis, has over the last days repeatedly held telephone talks with Putin and Zelensky as well as talking to US President Joe Biden.
His office had said late Thursday after Macron's latest talks with Putin and Zelensky that the discussions sought "to identify the elements that should lead to a deescalation".
In a possible nod to Russia's concerns about NATO expansion and US military presence in eastern Europe, it said exchanges had started on the "strategic balance" in Europe, which should make it possible to see "a reduction in the risks on the ground and guarantee security".
Western powers have been engaged in intense diplomatic efforts over the last weeks over the build-up of some 100,000 Russian troops close to the border with its pro-EU neighbour raised fears it was planning a new invasion of Ukraine.
Although Ukraine has sought to play down the risk of an invasion, tensions are running high after the US Pentagon said Thursday it had evidence of a plan by Moscow to film a fake Ukrainian attack on Russians to justify a real assault.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also indicated he plans to visit Russia soon although the timing is not immediately clear.
The French president has over the last years maintained that Europe must keep channels open to talk with Russia.
He has insisted that a "demanding dialogue" is preferable to open confrontation with Moscow in a fast-changing world dominated by the rise of China.
Macron paid his only visit to Russia as president in May 2018 to attend the Saint Petersburg economic forum and meet Putin.
His last face-to-face meeting with the Russian president dates back to a summit in summer 2019 at his residence in the south of France. A planned visit to Moscow in May 2020 was cancelled due to the pandemic.
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Macron heading to Russia, Ukraine next week
Macron heading to Russia, Ukraine next week
Philippine volcano eruption sends ash 2.5 kilometers into sky
- Kanlaon Volcano, one of 24 active volcanoes in the archipelago nation, has had several major eruptions in the past century
- A 1996 blast killed three hikers who were near the summit at the time
MANILA: A volcano erupted in the central Philippines on Thursday evening, sending a billowing plume of ash about 2,500 meters (1.5 miles) into the nighttime sky.
The two-minute eruption began at 7:04 p.m. (1104 GMT), state volcanology agency director Teresito Bacolcol said, saying “there might be a bigger explosive eruption in the next few days.”
Kanlaon Volcano, one of 24 active volcanoes in the archipelago nation, has had several major eruptions in the past century — including a 1996 blast that killed three hikers who were near the summit at the time.
“This is the second moderate eruption in a week,” Bacolcol said in a phone interview, adding his agency would monitor the volcano for 24 hours before deciding if it should raise the alert level from two to three on its five-point scale.
“This event generated a plume that rose 2,500 meters above the crater before drifting southwest. Incandescent ballistics were observed to have rained around the crater,” the volcanology center said in a statement released minutes later.
John De Asis, a rescuer in the nearby town of La Castellana, said that ash had begun to descend on local neighborhoods.
“Tonight, we heard a sudden, loud boom, then after a few minutes, people started reporting that there was ashfall in their areas,” he said, noting that rescue personnel were handing out facemasks.
Bacolcol said it was possible that “gas pressure had built up at the vent” of the volcano. He said recent low sulfur dioxide emissions suggested a potential blockage that would have caused pressure to build.
The volcano, which straddles Negros Oriental and Occidental provinces, currently has a four-kilometer exclusion zone in place.
The Philippines is on the seismically active region of the Pacific known as the “Ring of Fire,” where more than half the world’s volcanoes are located.
The most powerful volcanic explosion in the Philippines in recent years was the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Manila, which killed more than 800 people.
The two-minute eruption began at 7:04 p.m. (1104 GMT), state volcanology agency director Teresito Bacolcol said, saying “there might be a bigger explosive eruption in the next few days.”
Kanlaon Volcano, one of 24 active volcanoes in the archipelago nation, has had several major eruptions in the past century — including a 1996 blast that killed three hikers who were near the summit at the time.
“This is the second moderate eruption in a week,” Bacolcol said in a phone interview, adding his agency would monitor the volcano for 24 hours before deciding if it should raise the alert level from two to three on its five-point scale.
“This event generated a plume that rose 2,500 meters above the crater before drifting southwest. Incandescent ballistics were observed to have rained around the crater,” the volcanology center said in a statement released minutes later.
John De Asis, a rescuer in the nearby town of La Castellana, said that ash had begun to descend on local neighborhoods.
“Tonight, we heard a sudden, loud boom, then after a few minutes, people started reporting that there was ashfall in their areas,” he said, noting that rescue personnel were handing out facemasks.
Bacolcol said it was possible that “gas pressure had built up at the vent” of the volcano. He said recent low sulfur dioxide emissions suggested a potential blockage that would have caused pressure to build.
The volcano, which straddles Negros Oriental and Occidental provinces, currently has a four-kilometer exclusion zone in place.
The Philippines is on the seismically active region of the Pacific known as the “Ring of Fire,” where more than half the world’s volcanoes are located.
The most powerful volcanic explosion in the Philippines in recent years was the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Manila, which killed more than 800 people.
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