French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday said that he would call Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday or Tuesday to discuss a proposal from France, Greece and Turkey to evacuate Ukrainians from the besieged port city of Mariupol.
"There is a lot of cynicism from the Russian side on this question," Macron said speaking to broadcaster France 3.
France is planning a humanitarian operation with Turkey and Greece to evacuate people from the devastated Ukrainian city of Mariupol under attack by Russian forces, Macron had announced on Friday.
"We are going to work with Turkey and Greece to launch a humanitarian operation to evacuate all those who wish to leave Mariupol," Macron said after an EU summit in Brussels.
The French leader said he hoped to "be able to involve the maximum number of stakeholders in this operation."
He said that he wanted to be "in a position" to conduct the evacuation "in the next few days."
There were already concrete talks with the mayor of Mariupol and coordination with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Macron said.
Consultation is also necessary with Russia, whose troops have been besieging the city for weeks.
Russia has made the port city a major focus of its brutal onslaught on Ukraine as it tries to link up the annexed Crimea peninsula with Moscow-controlled areas in the east.
The Kremlin's devastating attack on Mariupol has drawn parallels with the bombardments by Russian forces that flattened Chechen capital Grozny and Syria's Aleppo.
