The dead end in which peace negotiations in Ukraine are not preventing major diplomatic maneuvers. On the contrary. The celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany on Thursday 8 and Friday May 9, aroused a new opportunity of confrontation between kyiv and Moscow, this time on the geopolitical field, while the negotiations intensify between Americans and Europeans to try to impose a cease-fire on Russia, under penalty of new Western sanctions.
On Friday evening, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the new German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the British head of government Keir Starmer took place on a train for kyiv from the Polish border. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk is in a separate convoy. Their visit has been prepared in the utmost discretion in recent days, and announced at the last minute at 11:30 p.m. for security reasons.
After a night of travel, the four leaders were expected early on Saturday morning in the Ukrainian capital. They will not start paying tribute, on Maidan square, to the defenders of Ukraine killed and injured in the fighting against Russia. Welcomed by Volodymyr Zelensky, they must then participate in a meeting of the “volunteer coalition”, their counterparts in the thirty states most committed to supporting kyiv before participating in videoconference.
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Source: Lemonde