Ukraine reveals security summit plans
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced preparations for a summit of countries ready to discuss security guarantees for Kiev. The event would be part of negotiations to end Russia’s ongoing military assault.
Zelensky named the US, Britain, Turkey, Poland, Germany, France, and Israel as countries that are “ready to meet and discuss a list of security guarantees” for Ukraine.
“Such a meeting will certainly happen because it was confirmed by the representatives of future guarantors,” he told Turkish Haberturk TV on Tuesday.
The president added that “communication with the Russian side” will take place after prospective foreign guarantors form a consolidated position on the issue.
Zelensky previously said his country could officially become a non-aligned state in exchange for security assurances. Russia has insisted that Ukraine drop its aspirations of joining the US-led NATO military bloc, which Moscow sees as a threat to its national security.
The sides held peace talks in Turkey late last month, during which the Ukrainian negotiators presented a roadmap for a potential deal to end the hostilities.
Moscow attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to regularize the status of the regions within the Ukrainian state.
Kiev says that the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
