Ukraine's foreign minister said on Monday that his nation wants a summit to end the war but he doesn't anticipate Russia taking 🉐p𝕴art, a statement making it hard to foresee the devastating invasion ending soon.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that his government wants a “peace” summit within two months at the United Nations with Secretaꦦry-General Antonio Guterres as mediator. The UN gave a very cautious response.
“As the secretꦆary-general has said many times in the past, he can only mediate if all parties want him to mediate,” UN associate spokesperson Florencia Soto Nino-Martinez said Monday.
Kuleba said Russia must face a war-crimes tribunal before his country dire✱ctly talks with Moscow. He said, however, that other nations should feel free to engage with Russians, as happened before a grain agreement between Turkey and Russia.
The AP interview offered a glimpse at Ukraine's vision of how the war with Russia could one day end, although any pea🎶ce talks would be months away and highly contingent on complex international negotiations.
Kuleba also said he was “absolutely satisfied” with the results of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to the US last week, and he revealed that the US government had made a special plan to get the Patri🍬ot missile battery ready to be operational in the country in less than six months. Usually, the training takes up to a year.
Kuওleba said during the interview at the Foreign Min💫istry that Ukraine will do whatever it can to win the war in 2023.
“Every war ends in a diplom🎃atic way," he said. “Every war ends as a result of the actions taken on🦂 the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”
Commenting on Kuleba's prop൲osal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the state RIA Novosti ne꧅ws agency that Russia “never followed conditions set by others. Only our own and common sense.”
A Kremlin spokesman said last week that no Uk🐓rainian peace plan can su🐲cceed without taking into account “the realities of today that can't be ignored” — a reference to Moscow's demand that Ukraine recognise Russia's sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed in 2014, as well as other territorial gains.
Kuleba said the Ukrainian government would like꧃ to have the “peace” summit by the end of February.
“The United Nations could be the best venue for holding t🎉his summit, because this is not about making a favour to a certain country," he said. “This is really about bringing everyone on board.”
At t🐲he Group of 20 summit in Bali in November, Zelenskyy made a long-distance presentation of a 10-point peace formula that includes the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggr🧸ession and security guarantees for Ukraine.
Asked about wheth𒈔er Ukraine would invite Russia to the summit, he said that Moscow would first need to face prosecution for war crimes at an international court.
“T🌠hey can only be invited to this step in this way,♛" Kuleba said.
About the UN Secretary-General's rol൩e, Kuleba said: “He has proven himself to be an efficient mediator and an efficient negotiator, and most importantly, as a man of principle and integrity. So we wo♕uld welcome his active participation.”
The UN spokesman's offꦗice had no immediate comment. Other world leaders have also offered to mediate, such as tho🐬se in Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
The foreign minister again downplayed⭕ comments by Ru🏅ssian authorities that they are ready for talks.
"They (Russians) regularly say that they are ready for negotiations, which i💞s not true, because everything they do on the battlefield proves the opposite,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed few days ago that his country is ready for talks to end the war in Ukraine, but suggested that the Ukrainians are the ones refusing to take that step. Despite Putin's comments, Moscow's forces have👍 kept attacking Ukraine — a sign that peace isn't imminent.
Zelenskyy's visit to th🌜e US was his first foreign trip since the war started on February 24. Kuleba praised Washington's efforts and uꦅnderlined the significance of the visit.
Ukr𓃲aine secured a new USD 1.8 billion military aid package, including a Patriot missile battery, during the trip.
Kuleba said that the move “opens the door 🎶for other countri♋es to do the same.”
He said that the US government developed a programme for 🌱Ukrainian troꦗops to complete training faster than usual “without any damage to the quality of the use of this weapon on the battlefield.”
While Kuleba didn't me♈ntion a specific time frame, he said only that it will be "very much less than si🍃x months." And he added that the training will be done “outside” Ukraine.
During Russia's ground and air war in Ukraine, Kuleba has been second only to Zelenskyy in carrying Ukraine's message and needs to an international au⛦dience, whether through Twitter posts or meetings with friendly foreign officials.
On Monday, Ukraine called on UN member states to deprive Russia of its status as a permanent member of the UN Securit👍y Council and to exclude it from the world body. Kuleba said they have long “prep❀ared for this step to uncover the fraud and deprive Russia of its status.”
The Foreign Ministry says that Russia never went through the legal procedure for acquiring membership and tak🐭ing the place of the USSR at the UN Security Council after the collapse ofꦡ the Soviet Union.
“This is the beginning of an uphill battle, but we will fight, because nothing is impossible,” he said.
