Ukraine Peace Summit Talks Reaching Progress, President Zelensky's Chief of Staff: We are Ready to Listen

JAKARTA - Ukraine's efforts with its allies to build broad international support for a peace blueprint have made progress, but a summit to ratify a document is months away, officials say.

Senior officials from Ukraine, the G7 countries, the European Union, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey met on Saturday in Denmark to discuss the concept. China was also invited to the talks, but did not attend.

The meeting in Copenhagen aims to advance Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's proposal for a "peace summit", to endorse principles that would underpin any settlement to end the war that began with the Russian invasion 16 months ago.

Ukrainian and Western officials have said the summit will not involve Russia. Instead, they aim to rally a broad coalition behind the Kyiv government, including major powers that have decided not to provide military aid to Ukraine or impose sanctions on Russia, in order to increase diplomatic pressure on Moscow.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said turmoil in Russia could persuade more countries to join.

"In my interpretation, (President Vladimir, red) Putin has weakened, at least to some extent. And hopefully that can also have an impact on the willingness of the rest of the world to discuss the post-war situation in Ukraine," Rasmussen told reporters at the meeting. European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, according to Reuters June 27.

While the upheaval in Russia provides a dramatic backdrop for the talks, officials say the focus will be on trying to find common ground for a possible peace formula, based on a 10-point plan outlined by President Zelensky last November.

"There is a general consensus emerging that it should be based on UN Charter principles, such as territorial integrity and sovereignty," said a senior European Commission official with knowledge of the negotiations.

"The closer we get to the UN Charter and the basic principles of international law, the more likely everyone will eventually be able to register," added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Separately, Andriy Yermak, President Zelensky's Chief of Staff who represented Ukraine at the talks told German journalists in a video call on Friday, Ukraine wanted a peace settlement based on their proposals, but was open to input from the parties. other.

"We are ready to listen," Yermak said, stressing "It is clear that there will be no territorial compromises," a moment later.

It is known, President Zelensky has proposed that the meeting be held in July. However, officials say there is still a lot of work to be done and it will most likely be implemented by the end of this year.

No place has yet been agreed for the meeting, but diplomats say Copenhagen has been proposed.

"It would not be bad if Ukraine had a bit of time to also try some advantages on the battlefield, taking advantage of some of the instability we saw this weekend," said a senior EU official.