Kiev wants to convene a second round of talks to reach a fair peace agreement for Ukraine before the US presidential election in November, this time with Russia also expected to attend, according to people familiar with the matter.
The plan follows a first summit in Switzerland last month that was attended by representatives from more than 90 countries. Russia was not invited, several countries sent lower-level delegations and Kiev’s attempts to win over key southern hemisphere countries were thwarted when some refused to sign the final communique.
Many of these countries have long been urging Moscow to join the talks, including China, which did not attend the Swiss talks and has put forward its own proposals, along with Brazil, to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The push for a meeting before the US presidential election reflects the sense of urgency in Ukraine as it faces the possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has boasted he will end the war before taking office in January and opposes continued US military aid to Kiev.
Ukraine was keen to use the summit process as a path to reach broad agreement on a set of key principles that would underpin a just peace before negotiating with Russia. The Swiss summit will focus on nuclear safety, food security and the return of abducted children, and initial contacts with Russian officials could be established around these issues.
Ukrainian officials have confirmed plans for a second summit before the U.S. presidential election, and several officials from Western allies said any meeting would need to be carefully planned, with clear objectives and managed expectations.
But some U.S. officials are not so sure the summit with Russia and Ukraine will happen, and they declined to be named because the talks are private.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking at the Reagan Institute in Washington on Tuesday, called on the United States to help make the second summit “stronger and truly decisive.”
This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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