KIEV, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks on Sunday with U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of Turkey and France, intensifying diplomatic activity around a war initiated by Russia almost 10 months ago.
“We are constantly working with partners,” Zelenskiy said in his late-night video, adding that he expects some “important results” next week from a series of international events that will address the situation in Ukraine.
While Zelenskiy has held numerous talks with Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan since Russian forces invaded in late February, the accumulation of discussions in just one day is not a common occurrence.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will hold an online meeting with G7 leaders and European Union foreign ministers on Monday to try to agree more sanctions on Russia and Iran, and additional aid or arms deliveries to Ukraine
Proposed EU sanctions would target Iran for human rights abuses in its crackdown on anti-government protesters and the supply of drones to Russia, while the ninth package of sanctions on Russia would target nearly 200 other individuals and entities on the EU sanctions list.
“The G7 meeting will be held today, Ukraine will participate, and now we have coordinated our positions with America,” Zelenskiy said after his call with Biden.
Zelenskiy also said he spoke with the US president about Ukraine’s need for effective air defense systems to protect the population.
Biden told Zelenskiy that Washington is prioritizing efforts to boost Ukraine’s air defenses through the assistance it provides, the White House said in a reading.
Earlier, Zelenskiy said he had “a very meaningful conversation” with Macron on “defense, energy, economy, diplomacy” that lasted more than an hour and “very concrete” talks with Erdogan to secure grain exports from Ukraine
Turkey, which acted as a mediator in peace talks in the early months of the war, also worked alongside the United Nations on a grain deal, which opened Ukrainian ports to exports in July after a six-month de facto Russian blockade.
Erdogan’s office said the Turkish leader had a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday in which he had called for a quick end to the conflict.
The Kremlin said in a statement that, in addition to discussing energy and grain, Putin also “outlined his fundamental assessment of the situation surrounding Ukraine.”
Putin said last week that Moscow’s near total loss of trust in the West would make it much more difficult to reach an eventual deal on Ukraine and warned of a protracted war.
Macron has defended diplomacy in the conflict. But some Western allies, Kiev and the Baltic countries have been nervous about the French president’s contradictory messages. Macron has said it is up to Kiev to decide when to negotiate with Moscow, while also saying security guarantees are needed for Russia.
There are no peace talks and no end in sight to Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, which Moscow calls a “special military operation” and Ukraine and its allies call an act of unprovoked aggression.
Moscow shows no sign of being willing to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and pre-war borders, saying the four regions it says it annexed from Ukraine in September are part of Russia “forever”. The government in Kiev has ruled out ceding any land to Russia in exchange for peace.
On the ground in Ukraine, the entire eastern front line has been continuously bombarded with heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
Moscow has also been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with large waves of missile and drone strikes since October, sometimes cutting power to millions of civilians in the winter, when average temperatures can be several degrees below zero centigrade.
Reporting by Nick Starkov in Kiev; Additional reporting by Ronald Popeski in Winnipeg, Canada; Written by Lidia Kelly; edited by Grant McCool and Simon Cameron-Moore
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