MOSCOW, February 28./TASS/. In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the settlement of the situation around Ukraine is possible only if Moscow’s interests are taken into account unconditionally, the Kremlin press service reported.

"Vladimir Putin stressed that this settlement is possible only with unconditional respect for the legitimate interests of Russia on the security track, including the recognition of the Russian sovereignty over Crimea, the settlement of the tasks of demilitarization and denazification of the Ukrainian state and ensuring its neutral status," the Kremlin said.

"The Russian side is open to talks with Ukrainian representatives and expects that they will lead to the sought result," it stressed.

The presidents thoroughly exchanged views on all aspects of the developments in Ukraine. "The French side voiced known views concerning Russia’s special operation to defend Donbass and expressed hope for the soonest settlement of the ongoing conflict via dialogue with Kiev," the press service said.

"The Russian president drew special attention to the fact that the Russian armed forces do not endanger civilians and carry out no strikes against civilian facilities," the Kremlin’s press service said after the phone call.

Putin said that "the threat comes from the Ukrainian nationalists, who use civilian population as a human shield, intentionally deploy attack weapon systems in residential areas and step up the bombardments of Donbass cities."

The Russian and French leaders agreed to continue contacts. The conversation was long and had been initiated by the French side.

Russia’s special operation in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the leaders of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation. The Russian head of state stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Russia’s Defense Ministry reported later on Thursday that Russian troops were not delivering strikes against Ukrainian cities. It emphasized that Ukrainian military infrastructure was being destroyed through the use of precision weapons. Civilians are not threatened, the Russian military assured.