PEACE PUSH:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the US-brokered plan was ‘90 percent’ ready and shuffled his Cabinet ahead of a summit next week
Ukraine yesterday hosted security advisers for crunch talks as Kyiv insisted negotiations are zeroing in on a deal, while Russia claimed a deadly New Year strike torpedoed the efforts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said about 15 countries would attend the talks, along with representatives from the EU and NATO, with a US delegation joining via video link.
Leaders from the so-called coalition of the willing are expected to convene in France next week after yesterday’s talks.
Photo: AFP, Ukrainian Presidential Press Service
The latest peace push comes after Zelenskiy announced in his New Year’s Eve address that the US-brokered plan was “90 percent” ready, but cautioned that important territorial issues remain.
Meanwhile, Moscow accused Ukraine of carrying out a “terrorist attack” and “deliberately torpedoing” a peaceful resolution after a strike on a hotel in Kherson killed 28 people celebrating the New Year.
Moscow warned of “consequences,” but Ukraine said the attack targeted a military gathering that was closed to civilians.
After US special envoy Steve Witkoff boasted about putting peace efforts back on track in the New Year, Ukraine ordered the evacuation of more than 3,000 children and their parents from frontline settlements in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, where Russian troops have been advancing.
Underlining the risks for civilians, authorities in Kharkiv reported that another body had been pulled from the rubble after an aerial barrage reduced multi-storey buildings to smouldering heaps.
At least two people, including a three-year-old, were killed and another 19 people wounded, local officials said.
Under the current US-backed blueprint for ending the war, Ukraine would cede parts of the eastern Donbas region and agree not to join NATO.
Zelenskiy last week said Ukraine has been able to wrest some concessions, notably removing the provision that land seized by Moscow’s army would be recognized as Russian.
The Russian army captured more than 5,600km2, or 0.94 percent, of Ukrainian territory last year, an analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War showed.
Zelenskiy has also shuffled his Cabinet ahead of the summit in France on Tuesday.
He offered the minister of defense post to Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhailo Fedorov and named Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov to head his presidential office
“At this time, Ukraine needs greater focus on security issues, the development of the Defence and Security Forces of Ukraine, as well as on the diplomatic track of negotiations,” Zelenskiy said. “Kyrylo has specialized experience in these areas and sufficient strength to deliver results.”
Budanov said he had accepted the nomination and would “continue to serve Ukraine.”