Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban summarized his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow while echoing the Kremlin's stances on its war against Ukraine in a letter obtained by Politico and published on July 9.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on July 5, just days after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
Viktor Orban, whose country took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU earlier in the month, called the visit to Beijing a third step in his "peace mission."
"A peace platform that will prevent deepening polarization, has high participation and representation, and prioritizes diplomacy should be established," he said.
Hungary canceled German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's planned visit to Budapest, Germany's Foreign Office said on July 5, after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's trip to Moscow.
Speaking ahead of a NATO Summit in Washington next week, Stoltenberg was asked if the alliance would support Ukraine and reject pressure to force Kyiv to accept territorial concessions and non-membership of NATO as a condition for a ceasefire.
The insight came to him during a trip to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, just days after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
Speaking from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that "we take (former President Donald Trump's declared intention to end the war) completely seriously."
Viktor Orban's steps show that he is "playing a different game and using the vacuum while the compositions of these (EU) institutions are changing" after the European elections, said Pavel Havlicek, a research fellow at the Association for International Affairs.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on July 4 that the alleged peace plan proposal drafted during negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow in 2022 in Istanbul, could be the basis for a "settlement" of a Russia's full-scale war, the Kremlin-controlled TASS news agency wrote.
At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kazakhstan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Turkey could help mediate an end to the war.
Oleksandr Merezhko highlighted the catastrophic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, which Trump has repeatedly used to criticize President Joe Biden, saying he is "haunted" by the idea of being held responsible for a similar geopolitical disaster.
One of the sources told Politico that former President Donald Trump "would be open to something foreclosing NATO expansion and not going back to the 1991 borders for Ukraine."
A new public opinion survey has revealed a widening gulf between Ukrainian hopes of a battlefield victory against Russia and European resignation that the war will only end with a negotiated settlement. Conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), the poll found that while support for Ukraine and
Kyiv previously rejected a temporary break to hostilities, saying it would only provide a window of opportunity for Russia to regroup its forces.
Ukraine does not envisage direct negotiations with Russia but could use the model of a tripartite agreement similar to the Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by the U.N. and Turkey in 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer published on June 30.
The Kingdom of Tonga has become the ninth participant to sign the joint communique following the first global peace summit.
Retired General Keith Kellogg and Fred Fleitz, who previously served on the National Security Council in the Trump administration, said the proposed ceasefire would freeze the frontlines in their current position.
June has been a busy month for Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a speech at Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he outlined his terms for peace negotiations with Ukraine and proposed establishing an alternative international security system in collaboration with China. A week later, during a two-day visit to
The Kyiv Independent’s Anna Belokur explains the top stories in Ukraine this week, from Russia’s stalled campaign in Kharkiv Oblast to Ukraine’s Global Summit.
Vladimir Putin on June 14 said Moscow would only cease fire and enter peace talks if Ukraine withdraws from the four Ukrainian regions claimed – but not fully controlled – by the Kremlin.
"We see growing global support for the Peace Formula, meaning the support for the UN Charter, which we want to restore to full force," Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Twitter.
Ukraine wants to hold a second global peace summit before the end of 2024, Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of the Presidential Office, said in an interview with Interfax Ukraine on June 21.
"Then the question arises: why should we be afraid? Isn’t it better to go to the end?" Vladimir Putin said at a press conference at the end of his state visit to Vietnam.
Kyiv would consider participating in a Beijing-led peace conference with Russia's presence if the talks are based on the principles of the "U.N. Charter and international law," Ukraine's Ambassador to Singapore Kateryna Zelenko said in a media interview published on June 20.
More than half of the signatories came from Europe. When counting other key Western allies outside of Europe – the U.S., Canada, and Australia – the disparity is even more stark.
Ukraine’s peace summit wrapped up on June 16 at the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland after two days of discussions on three major aspects of Ukraine’s 10-point peace plan: nuclear safety, food security, and prisoner swaps. Just over 90 countries, a handful of organizations, and one observer took part
The Swiss government intends to discuss the outcomes of the global peace summit with countries that have not attended, including Russia and China, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said on June 16.
Group of Seven (G7) leaders did not entertain Russian President Vladimir Putin's peace proposals for its war in Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during the Ukraine peace summit, the Guardian reported on June 16.
"In particular, we reaffirm our commitment to refraining from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state," the document says.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the talks "a glimmer of hope to start with" but said they "could have been more result-oriented" if Russia had attended.
The Wall Street Journal reported on the content of the unpublished 2022 peace terms already back in March, but the NYT published the 17-page draft in full, verified by participants in the talks.
(Updated: )
