02/25/2023 17:53 (act. 02/25/2023 17:53)
Berlin, London and Paris are apparently working together to end the war in Ukraine. ©AP, APA/AFP, Portal
Berlin, Paris and London want to convince Ukraine to start peace talks with Russia this year.
The Wall Street Journal reports, citing officials from the three governments.
German Chancellor Scholz and French President Macron had already suggested this to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in meetings in January. Ukraine would have been encouraged to continue negotiations on the terms on which such talks would take place, but it remains dependent on Kiev. Even after a possible end to the war, Ukraine must be supported with Western weapons for self-defense.
Doubts about military success
The three most important Euro-NATO partners see the closer ties between NATO and Kiev as an opportunity to persuade Kiev to start negotiations. Especially since you are in Berlin. London and Paris appear to doubt Ukraine’s ability to expel Russian troops from Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
China’s representative to the UN, Dai Bing, also called for talks in New York “without conditions”.
China’s ceasefire plan
“We call on Russia and Ukraine to resume talks without preconditions,” Dai told a UN Security Council meeting marking the first anniversary of the Russian invasion.
“Ukraine is not an arena for battles between big countries. Nobody should benefit from the conflict at the expense of the people of Ukraine,” said the Beijing diplomat. China has previously called for a ceasefire and talks in a position paper.
Criticism of China’s proposal
At ORF’s “ZiB 2”, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andriy Melnyk welcomed the Chinese position paper on ending the war. At the same time, he declared that many of the points it contained were “unacceptable”, such as calls for a ceasefire or the lifting of sanctions against Moscow.
Instead, Beijing should influence the Kremlin to get Russia to end the war, because after all the “key to ending the war” lies with the Kremlin, Melnyk said via Skype on the ORF program.
3 scenarios for the end of the war
After 12 months of war in Ukraine, there is still no end in sight. Will the second year of the Russian war of aggression lead to a decision? And if so, what might that look like? There are three scenarios for this:
- Scene 1: Russia wins the war. It is not yet clear what Putin would consider a “victory”.
- Scenario 2: Ukraine wins the war. Military successes, backed by the West, could increase domestic political pressure on Putin to such an extent that there would be a shift in power in the Kremlin.
- Scenario 3: There is no decision. A military stalemate. There would be a state of insecurity, like in eastern Ukraine since 2014, or between North and South Korea since the end of the Korean War.
News about the war in Ukraine on VOL.AT