Russia rejected Kyiv’s proposal for a United Nations-sanctioned “peace summit” on Tuesday, likening it to a computer error and calling it “404 diplomacy.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the Associated Press on Monday that Ukraine wants a peace summit within two months and asked UN Secretary General António Guterres to act as a mediator.
But Kuleba said that while Kyiv will try to win the war in 2023, he does not believe Russia will participate in the summit.
“Every war ends diplomatically,” he said. “Every war ends as a result of actions taken on the battlefield and at the bargaining table.”
RUSSIA LAUNCHES MISSILES ON UKRAINIAN CITIES AT CHRISTMAS, CLAIMS THE UKRAINE ARMY
Russian tanks damaged in recent fighting are seen near the recently recaptured village of Kamianka, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Sunday, October 30, 2022.
(AP Photo)
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed a 10-step “peace formula” when he addressed the G7 in October, which included a court of war to hold the Kremlin accountable for war crimes committed in Ukraine.
Increased defense aid from Western allies was also crucial in his plan to end the war, although negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin were off the table.
Ukraine has deemed it impossible to negotiate with Moscow due to its “ultimatums” and illegal attempts to claim Ukrainian territory, such as the four regions that Russia annexed earlier this year, as well as Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.
BAKHMUT, UKRAINE – DECEMBER 26: Medical waste and military clothing belonging to wounded Ukrainian soldiers outside a hospital on December 26, 2022 in Bakhmut, Ukraine. A large part of the Donetsk region has been in the hands of Russian-backed separatists since 2014.
(Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
PUTIN CLAIMS THAT RUSSIA IS READY TO NEGOTIATE; UKRAINE ACCUSES KREMLIN OF TRYING TO AVOID RESPONSIBILITY
“What kind of ‘peace summit’ can happen without Russia?” Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, was quoted as saying by Russian state media outlet Tass.
Polyansky called the proposal “404 diplomacy” and in turn said it was “very easy” to imagine a summit without Ukraine.
Kyiv argued on Monday that Russia should not even be a part of the UN Security Council and suggested that it was “illegally” held in office after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
BAKHMUT, UKRAINE – DECEMBER 26: A unit of frontline border guards in trenches on December 26, 2022 in Bakhmut, Ukraine. A large part of the Donetsk region has been in the hands of Russian-backed separatists since 2014.
(Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Russia has never gone through the legal procedure for admission to membership and thus illegally occupies the USSR’s seat in the UN Security Council,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Russia is a usurper of the Soviet Union’s seat on the UN Security Council.”
The UN chief has said he will only act as a mediator if both Russia and Ukraine want him to.
