Ukraine's foreign minister said Monday that his nation wants a summit to end the war but that he doesn't anticipate Russia taking part, a statement making it hard to foresee the devastating invasion ending soon. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the AP in Kyiv that his government wants a "peace" summit within two months at the United Nations with Secretary-General António Guterres as mediator. Kuleba said that Russia must face a war-crimes tribunal before his country talks directly with Moscow. He said, however, that other nations should feel free to engage with Russians, as happened before a grain agreement between Turkey and Russia.
The interview offered a glimpse at Ukraine's vision of how the war with Russia could one day end, though any peace talks would be months away and highly contingent on complex international negotiations. Kuleba also said he was "absolutely satisfied" with the results of President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Washington last week, and he revealed that the US government had made a special plan to get the Patriot missile battery ready to be operational in the country in less than six months. Usually, the training takes up to a year. Kuleba said Monday at the Foreign Ministry that Ukraine will do whatever it can to win the war in 2023. "Every war ends in a diplomatic way," he said. "Every war ends as a result of the actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiating table."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that no peace plan can succeed without taking into account "the realities of today that can't be ignored"—a reference to Moscow's demand that Ukraine recognize Russia's sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed in 2014, as well as other territorial gains. Kuleba said the Ukrainian government would like to have the summit by the end of February, per the AP. Asked whether Russia should be invited, he said that Moscow would first need to face prosecution for war crimes at an international court. "They can only be invited to this step in this way," Kuleba said.
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