Talks have started in Saudi Arabia to find a peaceful settlement to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Ukraine and its allies hope this weekend’s meeting of national security advisers and other senior officials from about 40 countries – but not Russia – will reach agreement on principles of how to end the conflict.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office and his main envoy for the talks in Jeddah, said late on Friday in a television interview published on his Telegram account: “I expect that the conversation will be difficult, but behind us is truth, behind us – goodness.”
The forum excludes Russia, but the Kremlin said it would “keep an eye” on the meeting. China said it would send its special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, to the talks.
Li said: “We have many disagreements and we have heard different positions, but it is important that our principles are shared.”
Ukrainian, Russian and international officials have said there is no prospect of direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia at the moment, as the war continues to rage and Kyiv seeks to reclaim territory through a counteroffensive.
Ukraine aims first to build a bigger coalition of diplomatic support beyond its core western backers by reaching out to countries in the global south, such as India, Brazil and South Africa, many of which have remained publicly neutral.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he hoped the initiative would lead to a “peace summit” of world leaders this autumn to endorse the principles, based on his own 10-point formula for a settlement. Moscow has rejected Zelenskiy’s peace formula.
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