A source told the French Elysée Palace today that President Emmanuel Macron will make a phone call within hours with German Chancellor Olaf Schultz to discuss the Ukraine crisis.

Elizabeth had just said that Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had agreed to try to reach a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, adding in Biyana: "Macron and Putin agreed to try to hold a meeting of the Action Group to reach a ceasefire on the line of contact."

Just now, the Russian Kremlin uncovered the details of the telephone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, regarding the tension on the border in eastern Ukraine.

In a statement, the Kremlin said: "Putin and Macron examined the situation in Ukraine and long-term legal security assurances, expressing grave concern about the military escalation on the line of contact in Donbass."

The statement added: "Putin and Macron stressed the importance of seeking a solution to the Donbass conflict through diplomacy within the Normandy Quartet, and also stressed the need for NATO and Washington to take Russia's demands for security assurances seriously."

He continued: "Putin has drawn Macron's attention to the fact that NATO's supply of weapons to Ukraine is driving it to resolve the crisis in Donbass militarily."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the repeated Western expectations of a Russian invasion of Ukraine "provocative" and could have serious consequences.

He added: "The fact is that this leads directly to an increase in tension, and when tension is maximized, as is currently the case, for example, on the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, any spark, unplanned incident or minor planned provocation can lead to irreversible consequences."

Joe Biden, the President of the United States, said last Friday that he was convinced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had taken a decision to invade Ukraine and that, although there was still room for diplomacy, he expected Russia to move in the coming days, while Russia had repeatedly denied its intention to invade Ukraine.