This weekend, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) announced that Saudi Arabia plans to host peace talks on Ukraine with Western countries and some Russian allies such as Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey at the beginning of August. This would be the second time that a Middle Eastern country shows its interest in supporting peace between kyiv and Moscow.
This same month, the President of Belarus, Alexandr Lukashenko, stated that a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine must be negotiated as soon as possible, without prior conditions. The Belarusian president, and one of Moscow’s main allies, predicted that kyiv’s counteroffensive will not be successful against Vladimir Putin’s troops.
Now this proposal by the Saudis could take place between August 5 and 6 and, according to sources in the American newspaper, it would take place in the city of Jeddah with senior officials from up to 30 countries seeking the fastest stability in the world.
The goal of these talks is that with this meeting they can culminate in a peace summit this year, in which international leaders would endorse common principles to resolve the war in Ukraine which, in turn, could serve as the basis for negotiations between Kiev and Moscow more favorable for Ukrainians.
Ukraine calls for ceasefire
Since the start of possible peace talks, which have been promoted by China, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, France, Belarus, the United States, India and now the Middle East, Kiev has made it clear that the only way to return to agree with Moscow is that there be a ceasefire and a withdrawal of troops from its territory, including the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Kiev does not see the possibility of Belarus again being a mediator in the dispute, since its president, Alexander Lukashenko, is the closest ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In addition, Ukraine fears that any agreement or ceasefire will be closed falsely, freeze the armed conflict so that Russia can rearm and attack the neighboring country again in the future.
For his part, The Kremlin ruled out a possible mediation with Ukraine with the mediation support of France, one of the few countries in the European Union that was close to Vladimir Putin in the first months of the invasion against Ukrainian soil. According to Moscow, Paris is now part of the conflict by supplying kyiv troops with weapons to defend their soil.
Even so, both countries have been positive with the proposals of China, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey and India to find a solution to the conflict. However, neither side has been respectful of the ceasefire.
“There are things that are difficult or impossible to do. For example, one of the points of the African initiative is a ceasefire. But the Ukrainian Army is attacking, it is attacking, as they say, it is carrying out a major strategic offensive“Vladimir Putin said this Sunday after a drone attack on Moscow.
With information from EFE and Wall Street Journal
