KYIV Ukraine — Ukraines foreign minister said Monday that his government is aiming to have a peace summit by the end of February preferably at the
Ukraine’s foreign minister said Monday that his government is aiming to have a peace summit by the end of February, preferably at the United Nations with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as a possible mediator, around the anniversary of Russia’s war.
But Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that Russia could only be invited to such a summit if the country faced a war crimes tribunal first.
Kuleba also said he was ‘absolutely satisfied’ with the results of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the U.S. last week, and he revealed that the U.S. government had made a special plan to get the Patriot missile battery ready to be operational in the country in less than six months. Usually, the training takes up to a year.
Kuleba said during the interview at the Foreign Ministry that Ukraine will do whatever it can to win the war in 2023, adding that diplomacy always plays an important role.
Ukrainian soldiers prepare to fire a French-made CAESAR self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions near Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Dec. 26, 2022.
‘Every war ends in a diplomatic way,’ he said. ‘Every war ends as a result of the actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.’
Kuleba said the Ukrainian government would like to have a peace summit by the end of February.
‘The United Nations could be the best venue for holding this summit, because this is not about making a favor to a certain country,’ he said. ‘This is really about bringing everyone on board.’
On December 12, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine planned to initiate a summit to implement the Ukrainian peace formula in 2023.
