Ukrainian officials hailed it as a “good sign” that the number of participants in a string of conferences on Zelenskyy’s peace formula was growing.
ADVERTISEMENTLeaders of talks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's peace formula said a growing number of countries are working to help set the groundwork for Russia to join one day, an admittedly distant goal as the nearly two-year war grinds on and with neither side willing to cede ground.
The fourth such meeting of national security advisers was held in the Swiss town of Davos, where Zelenskyy is set to attend the World Economic Forum's annual meeting starting Tuesday.
However there was no delegation from China present at the talks, and Ukraine recognises that it needs to get China - an ally of Russia - on board.
President Zelenskyy must also keep up the international focus on Ukraine's defense amid eroding support for Kyiv in the West and swelling distractions like conflict in the Middle East.
Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, posted photos of the meeting's opening and hailed a “good sign” that the number of participants in a string of conferences on Zelenskyy’s peace formula was growing - nearly half from Europe, as well as 18 from Asia and 12 from Africa.
"Countries from the Global South are increasingly getting involved in our work. It shows understanding that this European conflict is in fact a challenge for all humanity," he wrote.
Zelenskyy has presented a 10-point peace formula that, among other things, seeks the expulsion of all Russian forces from Ukraine and accountability for war crimes - at a time when the two sides are fighting from largely static positions along a roughly 1,500-kilometre front line. Such ideas are rejected out of hand by Moscow.
Yermak said that if Ukraine’s territorial integrity - now violated by Russia including through illegal annexations - isn't restored, “soon other aggressors elsewhere in the world will be able to seize parts of other countries and start staging fake elections there.”
At a final news conference, Yermak said the purpose of the meeting, the last in a series, was to discuss issues like an eventual Russian withdrawal, a path to justice, environmental security and ultimately how the war might be declared over.
He said that no allies had ever asked Ukraine to make any compromise, “which they know is not acceptable for us,” and it would never accept a “frozen conflict.”
Co-host Ignazio Cassis, the Swiss foreign minister, said that 83 delegations were on hand for the talks in Davos.
The last round, in Malta in October, involved envoys from 65 countries.
Moscow, which hasn't been invited to any of the meetings, has dismissed the initiative as biased.