Ukraine Pres. Requests Talk With Putin 04/13 06:05

   

   KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Ukraine's leader has asked for a phone call with 
Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Russian troop buildup across his 
country's border and the escalating tensions in eastern Ukraine, but the 
request has not been answered so far, his spokeswoman said Monday.

   The concentration of Russian troops along the frontier comes amid a surge of 
cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-baked separatists and 
Ukrainian forces have been locked in a conflict since Moscow's 2014 annexation 
of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. More than 14,000 people have died in fighting 
in eastern Ukraine and efforts to negotiate a political settlement have stalled.

   "The Kremlin, of course, has the request to talk to Vladimir Putin. We 
haven't received a response so far and very much hope that it's not a refusal 
of dialogue," Iuliia Mendel, a spokeswoman for Ukrainian President Volodymyr 
Zelenskyy, told The Associated Press. The request was lodged on March 26, when 
four Ukrainian troops were killed in a mortar attack in the east, she added.

   But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday he hasn't seen any requests 
from Zelenskyy "in recent days."

   Western and Ukrainian officials have raised concerns about increasingly 
frequent cease-fire violations in the conflict area. Reports of Ukraine's 
military casualties have been occurring daily over the past week, and rebels 
also have reported losses. On Monday, Ukraine's military reported one more 
serviceman killed, bringing the total to 28 this year.

   The G-7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. 
and the United States said Monday they are "deeply concerned by the large 
ongoing build-up of Russian military forces on Ukraine's borders and in 
illegally-annexed Crimea." They said the large scale troop movements are 
threatening and destabilizing and urged Russia "to cease its provocations."

   Zelenskyy is expected to head to Paris soon for talks on the buildup with 
French President Emmanuel Macron, Mendel said Monday.

   She said Russia has accumulated 41,000 troops at its border with eastern 
Ukraine and 42,000 more in Crimea. These numbers are likely to grow as the 
troops "keep arriving," she said.

   During a call with Putin last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called 
for the removal of Russian troop reinforcements "in order to achieve a 
de-escalation of the situation."

   Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said Monday that Germany has been 
following the Russian military buildup along the border with Ukraine very 
closely, adding it has been "of great concern to us."

   The Kremlin has maintained that Russia is free to deploy its troops wherever 
it wants on its territory and has repeatedly accused the Ukrainian military of 
"provocative actions" along the line of control in the east and plans to retake 
control of the rebel regions by force. Kremlin officials charged that Kyiv's 
actions have threatened Russia's security, warning that Russia may intervene to 
protect Russian speakers in the east.

   Speaking on a trip to Egypt on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey 
Lavrov warned that "the current regime in Kyiv might resort to reckless actions 
in an attempt to restore its ratings."

   Amid the rising tensions, the United States has notified Turkey that two 
U.S. warships will sail to the Black Sea on April 14 and April 15 and stay 
there until May 4 and May 5.

   Russia long has bristled at Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO and its 
increasing military cooperation with the U.S. and its allies.

   Lavrov argued that while Russia was moving troops on its own territory, "a 
question what the U.S. ships and servicemen taking part in NATO activities in 
Ukraine are doing thousands of kilometers away from its territory has remained 
unanswered."