Many think about it quietly, no one speaks of it without infinite caution. While the war rages, more than thirty months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, neither of the two forces present is ready for a ceasefire, and the idea of negotiations remains more embryonic than ever. However, this prospect was to fuel discussions in the corridors of the 79e United Nations General Assembly, which is being held from Sunday 22 to Friday 27 September in New York, in the presence of Volodymyr Zelensky.
After a speech at the UN podium on Wednesday, the Ukrainian president will be received the following day at the White House, to present to the President of the United States Joe Biden the “plan for victory” which he has been concocting in the greatest secrecy for several weeks. It is a question for kyiv of making a new military effort, with the support of Western allies, notably the United States, in the hope of forcing President Vladimir Putin's Russia to sit down at the negotiating table. In an interview with the American channel ABC, which was to be broadcast on Tuesday, September 24, Mr. Zelensky declared that Ukraine was “closer to peace than we think”estimating that this fall would be “decisive”.
The hypothesis of an opening of peace talks between the two belligerents remains however very uncertain, as this path seems strewn with pitfalls. In New York, no contact is planned between Sergei Lavrov, the head of Russian diplomacy – who represents the head of the Kremlin, once again absent – and his Western counterparts, even if they risk crossing paths at a meeting of the Security Council devoted to the war in Ukraine, on Tuesday.
“The situation on the front is complicated”
“We are still far from something concrete, but people are beginning to think about the day after”observes a senior diplomat. The situation on the ground and the international context, starting with the election campaign in the United States, are prompting Volodymyr Zelensky and some Western capitals to imagine a way out of the conflict, without laying down arms.
“Negotiations will sooner or later arise, because the situation on the front is complicated, and the Ukrainians are exhausted.”privately analyses a European foreign minister, usually among the firmest in dealing with Moscow. The Russians are advancing in the Donbass and the intensive bombing of Ukrainian energy infrastructure heralds a terrible winter for the civilian population.
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Source: Lemonde
