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Head of Zelenskyy’s office confirms Ukraine peace formula talks in Saudi Arabia
The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, confirmed on Sunday that Saudi Arabia will host talks in August on the situation in Ukraine during which a peace plan is expected to be discussed.
“We are preparing the next meeting of national security advisers regarding the implementation of the Ukraine Peace Formula, which will soon take place in Saudi Arabia,” Yermak said in a post on Twitter.
We are preparing the next meeting of national security advisers regarding the implementation of the 🇺🇦 @ZelenskyyUa Peace Formula, which will soon take place in 🇸🇦. It was one of my speech points at the Congress of local and regional authorities under the 🇺🇦 President. pic.twitter.com/xazwqgic2c
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) July 30, 2023
“The first NSAs meeting that we initiated, took place in June in Copenhagen. We are now working hard to involve as many partners as possible from both the West and the Global South in the negotiations in Saudi Arabia. Many thanks to the hosts and co-organizers for their commitment,” he said.
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The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the summit citing “diplomats involved in the discussion,” said the talks would take place August 5 and 6, with some 30 countries attending.
News of the summit comes after US national security adviser Jake Sullivan visited the Kingdom Thursday.
The WSJ report mentioned that the talks will be held in Jeddah, but Yermak didn’t name where in Saudi Arabia the meeting will be held nor did he confirm the dates.
“The Ukrainian Peace Formula contains 10 fundamental points, the implementation of which will not only ensure peace for Ukraine, but also create mechanisms to counter future conflicts in the world,” Yermak said in a statement.
“We are deeply convinced that the Ukrainian peace plan should be taken as a basis, because the war is taking place on our land.”
Yermak’s statement described the 10 points as being “discussed individually and in groups with representatives of more than 50 countries on an almost weekly basis.”
Also on Sunday, Yermak wrote on the Telegram messaging app that Ukraine will start consultations with the United States this week on providing security guarantees for Kyiv pending the completion of the process of joining NATO.
The talks are a follow-up on pledges issued by the G7 group of advanced countries after this month’s NATO summit in Lithuania to draw up and honor security guarantees.
“We are starting talks with the United States [this] week,” Yermak said.
“Security guarantees for Ukraine will be concrete, long-term obligations ensuring Ukraine’s capacity to defeat and restrain Russian aggression in the future. These will be clearly drafted formats and mechanisms of support.”
Yermak said the guarantees “will be in effect until Ukraine secures NATO membership.”
The Western Alliance’s Vilnius summit offered support to Ukraine in countering Russia’s 17-month-old invasion and individual countries pledged new weapons, but no date for Ukrainian membership was set as long as the war continues.
Members of the G7 agreed for each nation to negotiate agreements to provide security guarantees and help Ukraine bolster its military.
In his comments, Yermak said more than 10 other countries had joined the G7 declaration and Ukraine was negotiating terms of future guarantees with each of them.
With agencies
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