"As for the hospital – the tragedy that happened there – these are terrible events. Hundreds of dead and hundreds of wounded – this, of course, is a disaster. Ina single place, especially in a place of a humanitarian nature. So I really hope that this will be a signal of the need to end this conflict as quickly as possible. In any case, we need to bring this matter to the possibility of starting some kind of contacts and negotiations," he said at a press conference during his visit to China.
"My impression after talking with five leaders of the region was that these were important, timely conversations, I'll tell you the main thing now, without details. I got the impression that no one wants to continue, develop the conflict and worsen the situation," Putin said at the press conference. "Here, in my opinion, are the main players: some, by definition, don’t want to, some are afraid of something, but the readiness to develop the conflict, turn it into a large-scale war – I have the impression that there are practically no such people," added the president.