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Updated January 11th, 2022 at 20:44 IST

Ukraine President Zelensky calls for summit with West and Russia to end border conflict

Ukraine is ready to take the necessary steps to end the war in its eastern Donbass region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.

Reported by: Aparna Shandilya
Ukraine
Image: AP | Image:self
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President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has called for a new summit to address the situation in his country, which is at the centre of this week's intensive talks between the West and Russia. Ukraine is ready to take the necessary steps to end the war in its eastern Donbas region, Ukrainian President Zelensky stated on Tuesday. The summit will have in attendance, leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany.

Following a meeting with European diplomats, Zelensky said in a statement, "It is time to agree on an end to the conflict, and we are ready for the necessary decisions during a new summit of the leaders of the four countries."

Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, said Ukraine intended to agree on measures including implementing a cease-fire and more prisoner swaps in the same statement. Thousands of Russian troops have moved within striking distance of Ukraine, according to Washington and Kyiv, and could be preparing a fresh military onslaught. Officials from the United States and Russia gathered in Geneva on Monday for discussions, however, Kremlin claimed on Tuesday that there were no significant grounds for hope.

More on Russia-Ukraine Conflict

On Monday, in Geneva, negotiations aimed at defusing tensions over Ukraine failed to produce any immediate results. Moscow insisted on guarantees that NATO's eastward expansion would be halted and that the military alliance's deployments in Eastern Europe would be reduced — demands that Washington had previously dismissed as non-starters.

During peace talks in Paris in 2019, Zelensky met Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time. The talks were held by French President Emmanuel Macron, who was joined by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The talks fell short of ending a conflict that erupted in 2014 between Kyiv forces and Moscow-backed soldiers. Fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine shortly after Russia took Crimea, and it has already claimed the lives of nearly 13,000 people.

The Kremlin accuses Kyiv of failing to execute peace agreements consented to in Belarus by Western mediators in 2015. Ukraine has repeatedly requested the resumption of four-way summits and proposed a direct meeting between Zelensky and Putin, but Moscow has rejected both requests. Tensions in Ukraine have increased in recent months as Washington and its European allies accuse Russia of threatening an invasion of the former Soviet republic. Tensions in Ukraine have grown further in recent months, with Washington and its European allies accusing Russia of threatening to invade the former Soviet territory.

Image: AP

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Published January 11th, 2022 at 20:44 IST

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