The third session of Ukraine-backed talks to end the Russian invasion begins in Malta this Saturday with representatives from around fifty countries, without Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hopes the two-day meeting, which follows similar gatherings in Jeddah and Copenhagen this summer, will build support for his 10-point plan to end the war sparked by the Russian invasion by February 2022.
Diplomatic advisers and international organizations from 50 countries are expected to join the Saudi summit in August, in addition to the 40 participating countries. Andriy Iermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, said, “This meeting is a strong signal that unity around Ukraine is preserved.”
Zelensky presents his ten-point peace plan, which calls for Russia to withdraw all its troops outside Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders. But Russia – which announced it would annex four Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya in September 2022 and Crimea in 2014 – has ruled out any solution that would give up these territories.
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