UN Secretary General António Guterres is ready to mediate in organizing a summit on Ukraine with the consent of all parties. This was announced on December 27 in the office of the head of the organization, commenting on the initiative of Kyiv.
“As the Secretary General has said many times in the past, he can only mediate if all parties want him to mediate,” the UN told RIA Novosti.
Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine was well aware of Moscow’s proposals to demilitarize and denazify the territories controlled by the Kyiv regime, as well as eliminate threats to Russia’s security emanating from there, including the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry advised Kyiv to fulfill these conditions in a good way, “otherwise the issue will be decided by the Russian army.”
Prior to that, on December 26, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that Ukraine intends to hold a “peace summit” at the UN at the end of February 2023. As a possible mediator at this event, he named UN Secretary General António Guterres. Russia, in his words, can be invited to such a summit “after the holding of an international court.”
On November 15, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he had a 10-point plan to achieve peace. Its conditions include radiation, nuclear, food and energy security, the release of all prisoners of war, the so-called restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the withdrawal of Russian troops and the cessation of hostilities, the “return of justice”, the prevention of escalation and fixing the end of the special operation.
On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to protect the Donbass, against which Kyiv has been conducting military operations since 2014. On September 30, according to the results of referendums, the DPR, LPR, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions were reunited with Russia, however, part of the territories of these regions still remains under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.