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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was due to hold urgent talks on Thursday with leaders and officials from about 30 countries that are supporting Kiev’s effort to achieve fair terms for an end to the war. Russia,
The leaders of Germany, Britain and France were among those expected to attend the meeting of Ukraine’s allies, dubbed the Coalition of the Willing, via video link.
Zelensky hinted that the talks were conducted hastily Kyiv Officials are scrambling to escape the US President donald trumpDemand for immediate solution. European governments are trying to help advance peace talks because they say their own security is at stake.
Trump said Wednesday that he and European leaders discussed the proposals in “quite strong terms” by phone, adding that Zelensky “has to be realistic” about his country’s position on a peace plan that would hand over Ukrainian territory to Russia. He did not elaborate.
Trump’s latest effort to broker a deal is taking longer than he expected. He initially set a hard deadline for Kiev to accept his peace plan before Thanksgiving. Washington’s previous deadline to reach a peace deal has also passed without success.
Russia is also keen to show Trump that it is joining his peace efforts in the hope of avoiding any further US sanctions. Russian Foreign Minister sergey lavrov Said on Thursday that Russia has submitted to Washington “additional proposals regarding collective security guarantees” that Ukraine and Europe say are necessary to prevent future aggression.
“We understand that we cannot limit ourselves only to Ukraine when discussing security guarantees,” Lavrov said. He did not give details kremlinProposal of.
Meanwhile, Ukraine launched one of its largest drone strikes in its nearly four-year war overnight, grounding flights in and out of all four Moscow airports for seven hours. Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said Thursday that airports in eight other cities across Russia also faced restrictions.
The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses intercepted 287 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions.
The demonstration of Ukraine’s military capability to strike deep into Russia came as a response to the Kremlin’s argument that its aggression is too much for its smaller neighbor.
Analysts say Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to portray himself as a negotiator from a stronger position. But since launching a full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia has captured only 20% of Ukraine.
There are indications that the talks are coming to a crossroads. The talks are at “a critical moment,” European leaders said in a statement on Wednesday.
Ukraine will coordinate with European countries on a bilateral level next week, Zelensky said late Wednesday.
“Ukraine is working quickly,” he said.
EU countries are due to hold a regular summit in Brussels next weekend.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine