Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was in Beijing on July 23 and 24 for talks he described as “very comprehensive and focused” with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.
It is the first time Ukraine has turned to China to mediate with Russia since Moscow invaded its neighbor in February 2022. Kuleba’s stopover comes amid a primary diplomatic initiative through Ukraine aimed at preparing favorable foreign situations for talks. direct with the Kremlin. Training
Kuleba said Ukraine is in a position to interact “when Russia is in a position to negotiate with intelligent faith,” but “lately there is no such willingness on Russia’s part. “
Wang also said that “the situations and timeline are still ripe. “
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said kyiv will have to give up the four regions of Ukraine it partly occupies as a precondition for a ceasefire and talks. He also needs Ukraine to promise never to join the NATO alliance and to reduce its duration. of its armed forces.
More of the countries joined Ukraine in the difficult convention that Russia respected Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as the basis for peace negotiations at a convention held in Switzerland last month.
Ukraine plans to convene a second peace convention this year and in the meantime is putting its positions on food security, energy and prisoner of war exchange to a vote at the U. N. General Assembly as part of an effort to build a global breakthrough in negotiations. with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said he would meet with former U. S. President Donald Trump, who is seeking re-election in November. “We have agreed with President Trump to speak in a private assembly about measures that can make peace just and peaceful. “in fact sustainable,” he wrote in X.
Trump opposes ending military aid to Ukraine and said last year that he would end the war within 24 hours if he were president.
Ukraine’s efforts toward a peace process are partly dictated by its allies’ evident fatigue: The US Congress delayed voting on a $60 billion military aid program for six months due to political disagreements. In February, Europe approved a 50 billion euro ($54 billion) military aid deal that was expected to be approved in December, overcoming opposition from Hungary and other member states.
Part of the crusade for peace is dictated by the realities on the ground.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii told the Guardian that Russia has 520,000 troops on the ground (at least 50,000 more than last year) and plans to have 690,000 by the end of the year. ‘year. Russian forces still have a two-to-three-to-one apparatus merit over Ukrainian forces, he said.
Ultimately Ukraine must hold the front line (Russia has gained only about 550 square kilometers (193 square miles) this year, at exorbitant human and clothing costs), but is unable to mount a counteroffensive.
Zelensky’s war goals have not changed, but it turns out that he is moving closer to the negotiating table in a bid to achieve war goals that seem difficult, if not impossible, to achieve militarily. He told the BBC that Ukraine does not want to reconquer all its territory by force. “This does not mean that all territories will be reconquered by force. I believe that the strength of international relations can help,” he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautiously welcomed Zelensky’s openness to dialogue. He said: “We cannot yet judge what exactly those words are or what concrete projects are being talked about. »
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also visited Beijing earlier this month, in the wake of a peace project that Ukraine and its allies disapproved of.
This likely contributed to a public rift between kyiv and Budapest on Monday, when Ukraine shut down the Druzhba pipeline that passes through its territory and transports Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia.
Although officials have publicly linked Orban’s project to the pipeline’s closure, it’s no secret that relations between Hungary and Ukraine are bad. In apparent retaliation, Hungary froze transfers from the European Defence Fund, which reimburses member states for their military donations to Ukraine. This bothers Poland, among other countries, which expects bills worth 2 billion euros ($2. 17 billion).
Zelensky told European leaders on July 18 that “we have stopped the Russian offensive towards Kharkiv,” a new incursion introduced through Russia on May 11, and satellite photographs showed this claim. Zelenskyy said Russia suffered 20,000 casualties there.
But Russian forces have made marginal gains on the southern and southern fronts. Most of the activity took place in the Donetsk region.
In the Avdiivka region, which Russian forces captured in February and have since been slowly advancing westward, they marched towards the villages of Niu York and Yevhenivka on July 18. On Sunday, they went one kilometer (0. 6 miles) into the village. , and on Monday we entered Niu York. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Russian forces invaded the village of Novoselivka Persha, west of Avdiivka.
North of Soledar and Bakhmut, captured through Russia in January and May last year and around which it has built new and slow conquests, Russian forces entered the village of Rozdolivka on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian armed forces said they had abandoned a position in the village of Krynky, on the left bank of the Dnipro in Kherson, after Russian shelling leveled it; however, these groups operated in neighboring areas and from the islands of the Dnieper Delta. Ukraine occupied backward Krynky last year and used it as a counterattack against Russian artillery, which was harassing settlements on the unoccupied right bank of the river.
While Ukraine has largely kept its front line intact over the past week, it has also attempted deep strikes into Russia and the occupied territories, with some success.
Ukrainian aerial and naval drones disrupted a Russian coast guard training on Crimea’s Lake Donuzlav last week when they attacked a naval base. Ukraine’s security said the drones disabled an ammunition warehouse, an electrical substation and firing positions. Satellite photographs later showed the damage.
Russian officials said they had thwarted two more attacks on Crimea, shooting down two ATACMS missiles and five drones on Sunday morning, and shooting down 21 drones on Monday night, the most of them destined for the port of Sevastopol.
On Saturday, Ukraine introduced drones into the Millerovo airfield in western Russia, damaging a fuel tank and sparking a fire. Russian resources said about 30 drones had been shot down. Russia is said to have stationed Su-30 fighters at this base. Later photographs showed that, in addition to destroying the fuel tank, Ukrainian drones had also destroyed Millerovo’s hangar.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian drones severely damaged the Slavianin ferry in the port of Kavkaz, which was being used to transport wagons, boxes and cars across the Kerch Strait to Crimea. Ukrainian officials said it was the third and final Russian ferry at the port. Ukraine blew up the Kerch Bridge twice during the war, rendering it partly unusable for military cargo, and continuously used ATACMS missiles and naval and aerial drones to save war materiel so that it could triumph in Crimea by other means.
Zelensky has pleaded with his Western allies to allow Ukraine to attack Russian airfields that Moscow uses to launch its bombing raids. Russia drops about 800 guided bombs each week, Zelenskyy previously said. These are massive munitions, ranging from 250 kg (550 pounds) of explosives to 3 tons, and Ukraine has said they were to blame for many of its losses. The United States, the United Kingdom and Germany have imposed certain restrictions on the use of their munitions on Russian soil, to avoid a direct war between NATO and Russia.
However, Zelensky told European leaders last week that this is a false fear. The Allies partially lifted their restrictions when Russia attacked Kharkiv in May. “Did this lead to an escalation? -Zelensky asked. “No, on the contrary, he blocked Putin’s attempt to expand the war. Did Putin have an answer? No. “
“Military airfields from which Russian planes take off bomb our cities, Russian missile launch sites – all this will have to be destroyed,” Zelensky said.
“The less we limit the use of effective weapons, the more actively Russia will try to achieve peace. “