KYIV, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks with U.S. President Joe Biden as well as the leaders of Turkey and France on Sunday, as the escalation of diplomatic activity around Russia’s war began to enter its 10th month. .
“We are always working with partners,” Zelenskiy said in his late-night video address, adding that he expects some “significant impacts” next week from the international agenda. will settle the situation in Ukraine.
While Zelenskiy has held several talks with Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan since the Russian military invasion in late February, gathering talks in one day is not a regular occurrence. .
Zelenskiy said he thanked Biden for the “unprecedented security and financial assistance” that the United States has given to Ukraine and discussed with the US president an effective air defense system to protect people.
Earlier, Zelenskiy said that he and Macron had a “valuable dialogue” on “security, energy, economy, diplomacy” that lasted more than an hour and that he had a “concrete” conversation with Erdogan emphasizing energy and grain exports of Ukraine.
Turkey, which acted as a mediator in peace talks in the early months of the war, is also working with the United Nations on a grain deal, which opened Ukrainian ports for exports in July after a six-month de facto Russian shutdown.
Erdogan’s office said the Turkish leader had a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, in which he called for an immediate end to the conflict.
Putin said last week that Moscow’s lack of trust in the West would make a Ukrainian settlement more difficult to achieve and warned of a protracted war.
Macron has supported diplomacy in the conflict but his mixed message that it is Kyiv that will decide when to communicate with Moscow, but also that security is important for Russia, has not impressed some Western friends, Kyiv and the Baltic countries.
There are no peace talks and no end to Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, which Moscow calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine and its allies is an unprovoked confrontation.
Moscow has shown no sign of being willing to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty over pre-war territory, saying the four regions it claims it ceded from Ukraine in September are part of Russia “forever.” The government in Kyiv has decided to cede any land to Russia for peace.
On the ground in Ukraine, the war front is being rushed to the east and fierce fighting is taking place. Moscow has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with waves of missiles and drone strikes, sometimes cutting off electricity for millions of civilians in the winter, when temperatures can be several degrees below zero Celsius.
Comment from Nick Starkov in Kyiv; More information Ronald Popeski in Winnipeg, Canada; By Lydia Kelly; edited by Grant McCool
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