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Ukraine aid ‘vital to U.S. interests’: Ambassador John Herbst
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst reacts to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech to Congress and discusses developments in the conflict.
Russia on Tuesday rejected Kyiv’s proposal for a United Nations sanctioned "peace summit" by likening it to a computer error and calling it "diplomacy 404."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the on Monday that Ukraine wants a peace summit within a two-month time frame and called on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to serve as mediator.
But Kuleba said that while Kyiv will try to win the war in 2023, it does not believe that Russia would take part in the summit.
"Every war ends in a diplomatic way," he said. "Every war ends as a result of the actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiating table."
RUSSIA LAUNCHES MISSILES ON UKRAINIAN TOWNS ON CHRISTMAS, CLAIMS UKRAINE MILITARY
Russian tanks damaged in recent fighting are seen near the recently retaken village of Kamianka, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022. (WHD Photo)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed a 10-step "peace formula" when addressing the G7 in October which included a war tribunal to hold the Kremlin accountable for war crimes committed in Ukraine.
Increased defense aid from Western allies was also crucial in his plan to end the war, though negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin were out of the question.
Ukraine has deemed negotiating with Moscow impossible due to its "ultimatums" and illegal attempts to lay claim to Ukrainian territory, like the four regions Russia annexed earlier this year as well as Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.
BAKHMUT, UKRAINE - DECEMBER 26: Medical waste and military clothes belonging to wounded Ukrainian soldiers outside an hospital on December 26, 2022 in Bakhmut, Ukraine. A large swath of Donetsk region has been held by Russian-backed separatists since 2014. (Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
PUTIN CLAIMS RUSSIA IS READY TO NEGOTIATE; UKRAINE ACCUSES KREMLIN OF TRYING TO AVOID RESPONSIBILITY
"What sort of ‘peace summit’ can occur without Russia," Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said according to Russian state-owned news outlet Tass.
Polyansky called the proposal "diplomacy 404" and in turn said it was "very easy" to imagine a summit without Ukraine.
Kyiv argued on Monday that Russia should not even be a part of the UN Security Council and suggested it "illegally" held onto the position after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
BAKHMUT, UKRAINE - DECEMBER 26: A unit of Border Guards on the frontline in trenches on December 26, 2022 in Bakhmut, Ukraine. A large swath of Donetsk region has been held by Russian-backed separatists since 2014. (Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
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"Russia has never gone through the legal procedure to be admitted to membership and therefore illegally occupies the seat of the USSR in the UN Security Council," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Russia is a usurper of the Soviet Union’s seat in the UN Security Council."
The UN chief has said he will only act as a mediator if both Russia and Ukraine want him to do so.