The advance of the war between Ukraine and Russia made this Saturday (5) a busy day in world high diplomacy.
So far, representatives from both sides have met twice, both times on the Belarusian border. The last one, on Thursday (3), determined the opening of humanitarian corridors with a ceasefire to remove civilians from combat zones – the Ukrainians, however, accuse the Russians of having disrespected the measure.
A third round of negotiations should take place on Monday (7). Until then, countries like the USA, China, Israel, Germany and France continue to move their pieces behind the scenes.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett went to Moscow and spent three hours in the Kremlin talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to a spokesman, they talked about the war, the large Jewish population in Ukraine and even the Iran nuclear deal. No further information was released.
Next, Bennett called Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. So he left Russia for Germany, where he met Prime Minister Olaf Scholz in Berlin. Before starting the series of trips, he had spoken on the phone with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
According to his spokesman, Bennett, a Jew, did not violate the holy rest of the Sabbath when traveling to Moscow because Jewish law provides for exceptions when the aim is to preserve human life.
Despite being an ally of the United States, having sent humanitarian aid to the Ukrainians and condemning the Russian invasion, Israel has offered to try to help in the dialogue between the countries at war. During the trip, Bennett was joined by Israeli Housing Minister Zeev Elkin, who is born in Ukraine and has served as an interpreter for Putin’s meetings with Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s former prime minister.
This Saturday, the country’s Ministry of Health announced that it will send doctors to set up a temporary hospital to care for war refugees.
Israel is wary of Moscow’s military support for dictator Bashar al-Assad in neighboring Syria, where Israel regularly attacks Iranian military targets.
Also traveling for diplomatic purposes this Saturday was US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. On the Polish-Ukrainian border, he met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba.
The American reiterated his support for the Eastern European country. Kuleba, in turn, asked for more military assistance, especially anti-aircraft and aircraft defense.
A similar appeal made the Ukrainian president, also to the US, but in a virtual meeting with US senators.
Volodymyr Zelensky “made a desperate request to European countries to provide Russian planes to Ukraine,” Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader, said of the conversation.
It is not clear, however, how the American country can help transfer these Russian aircraft, which would have to come from European nations that already have them.
Zelensky later said on his Twitter account that he spoke by phone with US President Joe Biden about security issues, financial aid for Ukraine and the continuation of sanctions against Russia, without detailing the conversation.
China has again asked for dialogue from those involved in the conflict.
According to the Asian giant’s Foreign Ministry, Chancellor Wang Yi spoke with Blinken and reiterated that Kiev and Moscow need to engage in direct dialogue.
According to a statement from the ministry, the chancellor told the American that any resolution of the war must meet the “security interests of both parties”, but again stressed the “negative impact of NATO’s expansion towards Russia’s security space” – point which goes along with Putin’s argument.
On the Kremlin side, by the way, the Russian president maintained his speech that operations are going as expected.
He raised the tone against the sanctions that his country has suffered, saying that it is an “attempted war against Russia” and attacked the idea of ​​an exclusion zone over Ukrainian airspace, which would be “catastrophic” for Europe. .
Such a zone was a request by the Ukrainian president to NATO, the western military alliance. The entity and the US did not accept the measure, fearing that it would increase tensions with Moscow.
Zelesnki’s demand was even criticized by Russian Chancellor Sergei Lavrov. According to him, the statements in an angry tone by the Ukrainian do not inspire optimism about the future of the negotiations – earlier, Kuleba had opened himself up to talks with Lavrov, but only if such negotiations were “meaningful”.
