MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has focused on the Ukraine crisis in his telephone conversation with Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Kremlin said in a statement on Wednesday.

"At the request of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Vladimir Putin spoke about the reasons and goals of the Russian special military operation to protect Donbass, and informed him about Russia’s ongoing work at negotiations with Ukrainian representatives," the statement said.

"The Egyptian president thanked Russia for the efforts taken to evacuate Egyptian nationals from the conflict zone," the Kremlin added.

The two leaders agreed to maintain contact at various levels.

On February 24, Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aims to demilitarize and denazify the country.