The disastrous consequences of the war in Ukraine, with Russian invasion forces razing city after city and the energy and food crisis threatening the global economy, has restored a diplomatic momentum in recent days, although there is no certainty that meaningful ceasefire negotiations can be resumed.
Late Monday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during his remarks at the Davos Forum that he was willing to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but on one condition. The only item on the agenda should be ending the war. He made it clear that there is no point in talks with any other Russian official, noting that after the crimes committed by the Russian military since the invasion began on February 24, any negotiations are becoming increasingly difficult.
A few hours earlier it was known that Moscow has received and is studying the peace plan submitted to the UN by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Confirming this development, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko noted that Moscow will respond soon when it analyses the proposals contained in the plan. The Italian proposal envisages a four-stage agreement, starting with an immediate ceasefire, a neutrality status for Ukraine with strong security guarantees and its accession to the European Union, while recognizing the autonomy of Donbass and Crimea, but without changing borders.
It should be noted that Mario Draghi had a long conversation on Saturday, after he had sent the plan to the UN, with Volodymyr Zelensky, without announcing anything about how Kiev is dealing with his peace initiative. It is assumed, however, that the Ukrainian side is fully aware of what Rome's proposal envisages.
Alongside the ongoing hostilities, mainly on Ukraine's eastern front and the initiatives to resume peace talks, a Russia-West conflict is unfolding over sanctions and economic relations between the two sides.
Zelensky's speech in Davos asked the West to step up sanctions against Russia with a complete trade freeze as a signal to any country considering resorting to the use of brute force.
Later Monday night, German Finance Minister Robert Habeck said that within days the European Union would reach an agreement to impose an embargo on Russian oil. He also added that in order to reduce Moscow's revenues it would probably be necessary to impose a cap on oil prices on international markets, but warned that the measure would not automatically weaken the Kremlin.
The Commission's embargo plan has been frozen, due to strong opposition from European countries dependent on Russian fuel, for more than twenty days and while in the meantime most EU member state companies have accepted Moscow's demand that they pay in rubles for Russian gas supplies.
Based on all these moves, the Kremlin is sending its own message to Brussels, appearing rather undeterred by the sanctions imposed on the Russian economy. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Moscow will consider any proposals to restore its relations with the West and will think about whether this is needed! He presented as an alternative perspective for Russia the development of its relations with China.
Earlier on Monday, Putin himself said during his meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that "everything is going well in the Russian economy" despite Western sanctions.
Zelensky's dismay at slow arms deliveries - and new mercenaries in Donbass
Zelensky made a new appeal to the West to send Ukraine in a timely manner as many weapons as necessary to counter the escalation of Russian attacks, particularly in Donbass, from Davos. The Ukrainian president expressed regret that the international community's support is not always quick enough, noting that if Kiev "had received 100 percent of the needs in February, the result would have been tens of thousands of lives saved."
Zelensky's statement was neither random nor general. But it was rooted in the worrying developments, both with Berlin's failure to send Ukraine the heavy weaponry it has pledged to deliver, and with the fact that the Russian army is pounding the eastern front, advancing with the aim of absolute control of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
On the former, the Solts government has been heavily criticized for being late and reluctant to deliver the weapons promised to Ukraine.
The head of the German parliament's defence committee and Liberal Party member Marie Agnes Strack-Ciemerman said she was bothered by "the fact that the delivery of heavy weapons could have started weeks ago".
The Christian Democrats also note that despite the German military industry's ability to deliver 100 Leopards and 100 Marders long ago, it has not executed any orders to date.
Meanwhile, things on the eastern front are becoming increasingly difficult for the Ukrainians. Kiev admitted yesterday that it is "bleeding" and losing many soldiers every day in the fighting in these areas. Russian forces are pounding the defences of dozens of targets, having been reinforced in recent days after Azovstal also fell in Mariupol.
One of the last pockets of resistance on a major front, the city of Severodonetsk in Donbass is under heavy attack as the Russian army seeks to encircle the remaining Ukrainian forces.
Moscow is even reinforcing its forces there further. A report in the French newspaper Libération says that Syrian mercenaries are being transferred to the area. Some 40,000 men have been recruited and are waiting to join the front lines on behalf of Russia.
Source: Proto Thema
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