President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to debate Ukraine’s peace plan and the problem of prisoners of conflict with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
High on the agenda is Zelenkyy’s 10-point peace plan, based mostly on a whole Russian withdrawal from Ukraine, reparations and punishment of conflict criminals, in addition to the discharge of Ukrainian prisoners of conflict and their return underneath mediation by Riyadh.
“The Kingdom’s leadership has already contributed to the release of our people. I am confident that this meeting will also yield results,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, previously Twitter.
The two leaders are additionally going to debate financial cooperation and “Saudi Arabia’s involvement in Ukraine’s reconstruction,” in line with Zelenskyy.
Ukraine has been defending itself towards a full-scale Russian invasion for greater than two years. For its marketing campaign, Kyiv has acquired huge worldwide assist largely from Western allies within the type of weapons deliveries, humanitarian help in addition to sanctions towards Russia.
Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, nonetheless, whereas supporting Kyiv, additionally continues to take care of ties with Russia. This has made the nation a go-between within the conflict.
In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Riyadh on a uncommon journey overseas.
Last August, the dominion hosted a Ukraine convention within the coastal metropolis of Jeddah, the place envoys from a number of international locations agreed to proceed “international consultations” to construct widespread floor for peace.
But little appears to have been achieved on that entrance since then, with Russian and Ukrainian forces primarily engaged in grueling trench warfare for months.
Most lately, the Russians have been capable of document some successes, significantly the takeover of the jap metropolis of Avdiivka. Ukrainian forces withdrew from the strategically necessary industrial metropolis within the Donetsk area shortly earlier than the conflict entered into its third 12 months on Feb. 24.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday reported that Moscow’s troops had made additional positive aspects, having occupied an extra 327 sq. kilometers of Ukrainian territory this 12 months.
“Last week, the Ukrainian armed forces were driven out of the villages of Pobieda, Lastochkyne and Severne,” Shoigu mentioned at a gathering of the ministry in Moscow.
The data couldn’t be independently verified.
On Monday, the Ukrainian military introduced a retreat to new protection positions west of Avdiivka, which had been captured by Russia after months of fierce preventing. According to a spokesman for troops within the southeast, Dmytro Lykhoviy, the brand new line of defense is to run alongside the villages of Berdychi, Orlivka and Tonenke.
Shoigu was assured of victory after the storming of Avdiivka. Russian troops had improved their tactical positions each within the space and within the north of Ukraine close to the district city of Kupiansk, he mentioned.
Ukraine has been dropping 800 troopers a day because the starting of the 12 months, he added. Total Ukrainian losses because the starting of the conflict amounted to 444,000 troopers, in line with Shoigu.
The statements can’t be verified independently. Most lately, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy put the variety of Ukrainian losses at 31,000.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine reported new Russian missile and drone assaults in a single day and the air pressure mentioned that solely two of a complete of six missiles have been intercepted throughout the nation.
However, Ukraine was capable of intercept 11 of the 13 Russian drones. The assaults affected Kharkiv, Sumy and the Dnipropetrovsk areas. Explosions have been reported in Zaporizhzhya and Poltava.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian media reported the alleged occupation of two extra villages close to Avdiivka by Russian troops, citing the well-known navy telegram channel DeepState.
Source: www.dailysabah.com