International talks on how to resolve the war are due to get underway in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah tomorrow.
As we reported at 2.47pm, China will be sending a delegate, after declining an invitation to the first summit in Copenhagen.
On Wednesday, President Zelenskyy said he hopes the talks will pave the way for a Russia-Ukraine peace summit this autumn.
But the US isn’t setting its expectations that high.
In an interview with Voice of America, US national security spokesperson John Kirby said the White House expects no “tangible deliverables” to come out of the global gathering.
“Part of the object here is to expose more of the international community to President Zelenskyy’s peace formula and try to garner some support for that moving forward,” Mr Kirby said.
The so-called ‘peace formula’ is a 10-point plan the Ukrainian president has been promoting since last autumn, based on securing peace by ensuring food and energy security, and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity in full (among others).
Mr Kirby said that the Jeddah summit should not be seen as getting those 10 points set in stone, but rather discussing what peace would look like.
“Zelenskyy’s perspectives, Ukraine’s perspectives, have to be the foundational element. They have to be fully respected as negotiations occur,” he said.
“But we’re just not there yet. Mr. Putin has shown no indication that he’s willing to negotiate – quite the contrary.”
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