Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv could invite a Russian delegation to a second peace summit. Over 40% of Ukrainians support starting peace talks, according to a survey in Ukrainian media. DW has more.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy laid out plans for a second summit to discuss ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
He said Russian representatives should attend. Moscow was not invited to a summit held last month in Switzerland.
A survey cited by the Ukrainian newspaper Dzerkalo Tyzhnia found that nearly 44% of Ukrainians supported launching official peace talks with Russia, but a majority also rejected Vladimir Putin’s demands for an end to the war.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has ordered top EU officials to boycott informal meetings in Hungary. It comes after she condemned a meeting between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as “appeasement.”Orban also visited Kyiv and Beijing and flew to Florida to meet with former US President Donald Trump, who could be elected president in a November vote where he is likely to face off against incumbent President Joe Biden, in what the Hungarian leader described as a “peace mission.”
Hungary took over the EU’s rotating presidency at the start of the month.
“In light of recent developments marking the start of the Hungarian Presidency, the President has decided that EU Commission will be represented at senior civil servant level only during informal meetings of the Council,” Commission spokesperson Eric Mamer said in.
Ukrainian border guard spokesperson Andriy Demchenko told the online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda that officers foiled an attempt by military-aged men to illegally leave the country.
Demchenko said border guards stopped a vehicle with four passengers late on Sunday in the town of Maryanivka in the southwestern Odesa region, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Ukraine’s border with Moldova.
Two of the men in the group attempted to flee after the vehicle was stopped, and one was shot dead by a border guard after he ignored warning shots. He also reportedly attacked the border guard.
“In order to save his life, the border guard was forced to use his weapon,” Demchenko was cited by Ukrainska Pravda as saying.
He said that paramedics confirmed the death of the fugitive as well as injuries sustained by the border guard.
Demchenko said that this was not the first case of an attack on border guards.
Ukrainska Pravda cited a separate law enforcement source as saying that the four men were “military deserters.”
Ukraine declared martial law on February 24, 2022, hours after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its western neighbor.
Under martial law, Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 can only leave the country in exceptional circumstances.
