Leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine agreed to push ahead with talks on a possible settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, including a tentative peace summit within days.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande discussed the initiative during a “detailed” conference call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko yesterday, Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said in an e-mailed statement.
Talks would resume today in Berlin aimed at preparing a summit of the four leaders in Minsk, Belarus, on Wednesday, he said.
Photo: Reuters
The diplomacy may determine whether a tenuous peace takes hold or a wider war breaks out.
A breakdown would also strain trans-Atlantic unity in dealing with Russia, as Europe’s consensus on economic sanctions shows signs of fraying.
“Aren’t we already close to the point of no return?” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at the Munich Security Conference earlier yesterday. “I’m convinced it would be irresponsible to fail to grasp what may be the final chances to solve the conflict.”
Merkel and Hollande stepped up peace efforts over the past week after fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists escalated, prompting concern that the rebellion will widen into a broader conflict.
The plan being discussed by German, French and Russian officials foresees a demilitarized zone of 50km to 70km and greater autonomy for eastern Ukraine, Hollande told France 2 television on Saturday.
French Minister of Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius, speaking at the Munich meeting, warned against letting the fighting slide into a “raging war.”
Looming over the negotiations is the prospect of deeper sanctions on Russia, an economic collapse in Ukraine and the risk that the conflict descends into a proxy war. In Ukraine, government forces destroyed 14 units of rebel military equipment, including tanks and rocket launchers, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said yesterday.
For Russia, a breakdown in the talks could mean further strictures on an economy faced with a 46 percent plunge of the ruble against the dollar. At the same time, there are no signs that Putin, whose approval ratings are still at 85 percent, will change tack.
With some US officials and senators advocating weapons shipments to Ukrainian forces, Merkel stiffened her opposition to military aid as she prepares to meet US President Barack Obama at the White House today.
“The progress Ukraine needs won’t be achieved with more weapons,” she said. “There’s no way to win this militarily — that’s the bitter truth. The international community has to think of a different approach.”
Meanwhile, Britain yesterday accused Putin of acting like a “tyrant” over Ukraine, but said Kiev’s forces could not defeat Russia’s army on the battlefield and that only a political solution could end the bloodshed.
The comments, by British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, were his toughest yet on Russia.
“Ukrainians can’t beat the Russian army, that’s not a practical proposition. There has to be a political solution,” he told Sky News. “This man [Putin] has sent troops across an international border and occupied another country’s territory in the 21st century acting like some mid-20th century tyrant. Civilized nations do not behave like that.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique