Ukraine crisis: tug of war over diplomatic solution

Is Russia’s President Putin willing to talk to US President Biden? That is possible, but there are no concrete plans, according to the Kremlin. Mutual allegations between Ukraine and Russia meanwhile continue.

The Kremlin has dampened hopes that President Vladimir Putin will soon meet with his US counterpart Joe Biden to ease the Ukraine conflict. “So far there are no concrete plans for this,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in Moscow, according to the Interfax agency.

In principle, however, conversations are possible – both on the phone and in person. According to the White House in Washington, Biden agreed to a meeting “in principle” but made it conditional on Russia not invading Ukraine beforehand. French President Emmanuel Macron tried to arrange such a meeting over the weekend.

According to a government spokesman, Chancellor Olaf Scholz will speak to Putin in the afternoon. Scholz also coordinated longer with Macron on Sunday evening.

Baerbock: Solution only with Russia

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has welcomed France’s initiative for further top-level talks with Putin on the Ukraine conflict. She urged Putin to return “to the negotiating table.” Only Russia can solve the crisis, said the Green politician at an EU ministerial meeting in Brussels.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed a possible meeting. He hopes that Putin and Biden “leave the room with an agreement”. The head of Ukraine’s Supreme National Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, insisted on Ukrainian participation in a possible talk: “Nobody can solve our problem without us. Everything should happen with our participation.”

Moscow: “Saboteurs eliminated”

According to the Russian army, it has killed five “saboteurs” coming from Ukraine on Russian soil. Russian news agencies, citing the army, reported that the “five people” breached the Russian border and were “eliminated”. In addition, during the morning incident in the Rostov region, two Ukrainian military vehicles tried to cross the border.

Moscow reports shelling of border posts

Moscow previously accused Ukraine of shelling and destroying a Russian border post. In the morning, “a grenade of an unknown type fired from Ukrainian territory completely destroyed the post of border guards in the Rostov region,” reported Russian news agencies, citing the Russian FSB secret service, which is also responsible for border protection. So there were no victims.

Ukraine denies

The Ukrainian army announced shortly thereafter that they had not fired any grenades at the posts. “We cannot stop them from producing fake news – but we always emphasize that we are not shooting at civilian infrastructure or at any area in the Rostov region or whatever,” said Ukrainian military spokesman Pavlo Kovalchuk.

A video released by the Ria Nowosti news agency showed a small destroyed building on a wooded plain surrounded by rubble and rubble.

After days of new fighting in the conflict area in eastern Ukraine, Peskov described the situation as “extremely tense”. “So far we haven’t seen any signs of relaxation.” Putin convened the National Security Council. The meeting should take place on Monday, said Peskow.

West suspects subterfuge

Western officials have been warning for days that Russia could create a pretext for an attack on Ukraine. So did NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in an interview with the Report from Berlin.

Violations of the Minsk Peace Agreement, mobilization in the self-proclaimed “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, the evacuation of civilians, and false allegations of genocide are all evidence of the North Atlantic military alliance’s fears of a Russian attack on Ukraine confirmed, according to Stoltenberg.

Ukraine accuses Moscow of cyber attacks

Ukraine, on the other hand, expressed concern about possible cyber attacks on authorities, banks and the defense sector. The cyber security authority CERT-UA reports that corresponding warnings have been found on hacker forums.

Ukraine has seen a number of such attacks in recent weeks. The government in Kiev blames Russia, which denies any involvement.

EU helps Ukraine with 1.2 billion euros

At their meeting, the EU foreign ministers approved emergency financial aid for Ukraine amounting to 1.2 billion euros. The support was fast-track approved in just 21 days. The one-year loan is intended to help Ukraine meet its external financing needs for 2022. “The ongoing security threats have already triggered a significant outflow of capital,” the EU said. Due to the increased geopolitical uncertainty, Ukraine is losing access to the international capital markets.

The planned disbursement of the money in two tranches is linked to progress in a reform program set up by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Other preconditions are commitment to effective democratic mechanisms, the rule of law and human rights. According to the EU Commission, the EU and its financial institutions have provided Ukraine with more than 17 billion euros in loans and grants since 2014.