Hopes for a peaceful resolution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine are fading after an international meeting, presented as a first step towards peace, ended without achieving substantial diplomatic progress.
The absence of Russia and China at the two-day conference in Switzerland over the weekend, as well as the decision by some key countries (including India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Mexico) not to sign the final document of Sunday’s meeting They meant that the meeting had little to show beyond some goodwill and promises to continue working for peace after more than two years of war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the outcome of the conference was “close to zero.”
At the daily press conference, Peskov was asked whether the fact that countries such as Hungary, Serbia and Turkey had participated in the meeting and signed the declaration would ruin Russia’s relations with them.
“No, this will not harm them. Of course, we will take into account the position that these countries have taken, this is important for us and we will continue to explain our reasoning to them,” Peskov said.
“Many of them, and this was the common view on this event, confirmed their understanding of the absence of prospects for serious and substantive discussions without the presence of our country…”
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is trying to align countries behind his version of what an eventual peace deal should look like, said international meetings of advisers and government ministers would follow up on the talks. and would lay the groundwork for a second meeting at some point in the future.
Nearly 80 countries approved the final communique covering measures toward nuclear safety, food security and the release of prisoners and deportees, including thousands of children kidnapped by Russia.
It did not resolve the fundamental, and apparently intractable, issue for now: Ukrainian land occupied by invading Russian forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last Friday that he would order an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine if kyiv’s forces withdrew from the four Ukrainian regions that Russia illegally annexed in 2022 and kyiv abandoned its bid to join NATO.
His other conditions for ending the war included that Ukraine recognize Crimea, a peninsula in the Black Sea that Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, as part of Russia; restrictions on the Ukrainian army; and maintain Ukraine’s non-nuclear status.
kyiv rejected these proposals as “absurd.”
Zelenskyy previously presented a 10-point peace formula that, among other things, calls for the expulsion of all Russian forces from Ukraine and accountability for war crimes. Moscow rejected those proposals.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Putin “is unlikely to be interested in good faith negotiations in the foreseeable future” because he believes he will eventually win the war.
Meanwhile, Ukraine, having run out of ammunition due to delays in deliveries of promised Western military aid, is seeking to resist the Russian attack on the country’s eastern parts until its prospects improve.
Although the influx of Western munitions has reduced Kiev’s obvious artillery disadvantage, Moscow’s forces are still gaining ground along the meandering front line and will likely continue to do so through the summer, when the drier terrain and cooler days Long ones will only help your progress.
Ukraine is still on the defensive in the Donetsk region, allowing Moscow’s forces to inflict heavy losses during Ukrainian troop rotations and bringing them closer to crucial Ukrainian supply routes.
kyiv has resorted to a bend-but-don’t-break strategy to buy time until it can bring more Western weapons and ammunition to the front. By ceding some territory, Ukraine has been able to fight from better-defended positions, according to senior military leaders, officers in the field and Ukrainian analysts.
[Con información de The Associated Press y Reuters]
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