Ukraine war
Scholz relies on China, the Kremlin on an old agreement
Rescue workers extinguish a fire in Kharkiv after a Russian drone attack. photo
© Alex Babenko/AP/dpa
While the war in Ukraine has become a bloody everyday occurrence, international efforts for peace are increasing. Chancellor Scholz wants to bring China on board, Moscow is relying on old solutions.
The chancellor leaves for a three-day visit to China on Saturday and will meet President Xi Jinping on Tuesday. China is considered Russia’s most important ally. The leadership in Beijing presented a position paper on the Ukraine conflict last year and most recently sent a special envoy to Europe to discuss it in March. Western diplomats assume that the summit’s chances of success depend on China’s participation.
In addition to China, three other members of the G20 group of leading economic powers are also closely linked to Russia: Brazil, South Africa and India. Russia itself should not be invited to the summit, Ukraine should.
Zelensky’s peace formula
It is scheduled to take place on June 15th and 16th in neutral Switzerland. Among other things, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj’s so-called peace formula will be discussed. He calls for an unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from all occupied areas of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently rejected this on Thursday at a meeting with the ruler of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, one of his closest allies. This is far from reality. Instead, a day later, Moscow presented its blueprint for a possible solution: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that one could fall back on the Istanbul Agreement, which was pre-negotiated between Kiev and Moscow shortly after the start of the war. At that time, Ukraine agreed to forgo joining NATO in return for a peace agreement.
This agreement was never signed because even then there were disagreements over territorial claims made by Russia. However, these have only increased in the meantime. At the beginning of the war, Putin had set the goal of “liberating” the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which were already partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists, but Russia has now also annexed the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south of Ukraine.
Russia appears confident of victory
Although Moscow only partially occupies the two regions – the regional capitals of the same name are under Kiev’s control – the Kremlin appeared confident of victory: “New areas are now anchored in our constitution, which was not the case two years ago,” said Peskov. Returning the occupied territories is currently out of the question for the Kremlin.
Especially since things are looking favorable for Russia on the battlefield given the lack of Western military aid for Ukraine. Moscow has now ramped up its arms industry. The Ukrainian defenders, on the other hand, are running out of ammunition and weapons, forcing them to retreat in several places.
Russia’s superiority in the air is also becoming increasingly clear: every day, Russian missiles, drones and bombs destroy cities and energy facilities in Ukraine and kill civilians. The propagandistic political talk shows on Russian television therefore repeatedly discuss the conquest of the cities of Kharkiv and Odessa or even the complete destruction of Ukraine.