By Oleksandr Kozhukhar
KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged leaders of the Group of Seven nations on Monday to support his idea of convening a special Global Peace Summit in winter dedicated to bringing peace to his country.
The summit would be focused on the implementation of Kyiv’s 10-point peace plan that insists on, among other things, Russia’s withdrawal of all its troops from Ukraine and no territorial concessions on Kyiv’s part.
“I propose to convene a special summit – the Global Peace Formula Summit – to decide how and when we can implement the points of the Ukrainian peace formula,” Zelenskiy told the G7 heads, according to the transcript provided by his office.
“I suggest that you, like other conscientious states, show your leadership – in the implementation of the peace formula as a whole or its specific points.”
G7 leaders did not immediately comment on the idea, but said they were committed to bringing peace to the country.
“With a view to a viable post-war peace settlement, we remain ready to reach arrangements together with Ukraine and interested countries and institutions on sustained security and other commitments to help Ukraine defend itself, secure its free and democratic future, and deter future Russian aggression in line with its rights enshrined in the UN Charter,” a statement issued after the meeting read.
There was no immediate response from Moscow to the G7 meeting.
Russia shows no signs of being ready to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and pre-war borders, saying the four regions it claims to have annexed from Ukraine in September are part of Russia “forever”.
There are no peace talks and no end in sight to the conflict, the biggest in Europe since World War Two. Moscow describes its actions as a “special military operation” against security threats posed by its neighbour, while Ukraine and its Western allies call it an unprovoked, imperialist land grab.
“No matter what the aggressor intends to do, when the world is truly united, it is then the world, not the aggressor that determines how events develop,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
(Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
