MOSCOW, June 19 /ITAR-TASS/. In separate telephone conversations with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, June 19, President Vladimir Putin voiced serious concern about the continuing army operation in the south-east of Ukraine.

He expressed hope that the Kiev leadership’s assurances that it intends to stop the violence and begin a national dialogue would be fulfilled without delay.

During the conversations, which the Kremlin said had been planned in advance, the three leaders also discussed the failure of the talks on the settlement of the Ukrainian debt for Russian gas supplies and its possible consequences for Europe’s economy and energy security.