UKRAINE – Towards future talks? While Russia massively bombed Ukraine on Christmas Day, launching more than 70 missiles, Vladimir Putin said this Thursday, December 26, that a European state would have offered to be a ” platform “ for possible peace negotiations between kyiv and Moscow. This is Slovakia, whose leader, Robert Fico, is one of the few on the continent to have remained close to the Kremlin since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In Russia, General Igor Kirillov killed by a booby-trapped scooter, his assassination claimed in Ukraine
The Slovak Prime Minister “said that if there are negotiations, they would be happy to provide the platform for his country”declared Vladimir Putin at a press conference. A solution that the master of the Kremlin judges « acceptable ». “We are not against”he said.
Robert Fico met with the Russian head of state as recently as December 22, while traveling to Moscow. This visit by a European leader to Russia, very rare, went against Vladimir Putin's policy of isolation applied by the West, who strive to form a united front in their support for kyiv.
But the Slovak Prime Minister pleads for peace negotiations between kyiv and Moscow. The one who has again led the government of Slovakia, a member of the EU and NATO, since the fall of 2023, has also decided to stop all military aid to Ukraine. He also accuses kyiv of endangering his country's supply of Russian gas, on which it is very dependent.
Ukraine fears unfavorable deal
The hypothesis of peace negotiations to end the conflict is increasingly being mentioned less than a month before Donald Trump returns to the White House. The Republican, already president from 2017 to 2021, has repeatedly promised to restore peace in Ukraine “in 24 hours” and called for a “immediate ceasefire” as well as talks.
But the vagueness surrounding his plan arouses concern in Ukraine. In difficulty on the front and very dependent on Western aid, it fears being forced into an unfavorable agreement. But in November, Volodymyr Zelensky nevertheless said he was ready to accept NATO protection guarantees limited initially to the territories controlled by kyiv, in order to “ end the hot phase of the war » led by Russia.
The Ukrainian president has suggested he is willing to wait before recovering areas occupied by the Russian army – almost a fifth of the country – if such a deal could provide security for the rest of Ukraine and put end to the fighting.
Vladimir Putin, for his part, assured that his country would achieve “all (his) objectives in Ukraine”.
Also see onr Le HuffPost :
War in Ukraine: before giving way to Donald Trump, Biden grants new military aid to kyiv
Sinking of a Russian cargo ship in the Mediterranean, what we know
