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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked EU leaders to organize “a summit in a European capital” to discuss his ten-point peace plan. The Ukrainian president’s question came during the European Council, where the 27 leaders of the Union politically backed the munitions plan developed by the Foreign Service to urgently support Ukraine in resisting the Russian invasion. Zelenskyy logged on board the presidential train returning from a visit to the front lines and “thanked him warmly,” but also listed “five delaying factors” that could risk prolonging the conflict. (WAR IN UKRAINE – THE SPECIAL)
The “delay factors” according to Zelensky
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According to the Ukrainian president, without the “supply of long-range missiles and fighter jets,” the war will not end quickly as far as armaments are concerned. If instead of general pressure we talk, “a new package” of sanctions and the implementation of the peace formula must be adopted urgently”. The European Council also assured that it intends to support it, as stated in the conclusions. The Ukrainian President According to reports from European sources, he would have liked to organize the summit on the peace plan in Kiev, but faced with the precarious security conditions he asked his colleagues for help and received “several offers”. The last of the five factors instead concerns “the opening of negotiations for accession to the European Union” .do not put it off until later because people “need something to believe in and find the strength to fight.”
The jets from Slovakia and the phone call with Xi Jinping
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Zelensky’s appeal comes on the day that Slovakia delivered the first four of 13 Mig-29 fighters, angering Moscow, which “accuses NATO and EU countries of continuing the path of conflict escalation.” But the Ukrainian leader is of course aiming for modern jets (F-16 in Primis, but also Eurofighter, Rafale or the Swedish Gripen would be fine) to secure a competitive advantage over the Russians. No mention, however, of the just-concluded meeting between Putin and Xi Jinping, or the forthcoming phone call with the great Chinese helmsman that raises so many expectations. On the contrary, China’s leaders spoke quite correctly, even though there was no specific chapter on the European Council’s agenda.
Compare China
According to a senior EU official, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres assured the 27 that Beijing had “a genuine interest” in maintaining ties with the European Union and that “isolating China poses risks”. However, the discussion continued. In fact, the second part of the Council was dedicated to “Europe’s competitiveness”, its “industrial and commercial” strategy: a debate defined as “geo-economic” with profound consequences. “If you read it as a watermark, you can only see China in the background,” a senior European source explained. And indeed, there are rumors that the heads of state and government will devote a special discussion moment to this topic in the coming months.