Zelensky’s talks with other leaders indicate diplomatic turmoil over Ukraine

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of Turkey and France on Sunday to step up diplomacy over the war Russia started nearly a decade ago.

“We are constantly working with partners,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address, adding that he expects some “important results” next week from the series of international events that will address the situation in Ukraine.

While Zelensky has held numerous conversations with Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since the invasion of Russian forces in late February, the accumulation of discussions in just one day is not an ordinary occurrence.

On Monday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will hold an online meeting with G7 leaders and European Union foreign ministers in a bid to agree more sanctions on Russia and Iran, and on additional aid or arms shipments to Ukraine.

Proposed EU sanctions target Iran for human rights abuses in its crackdown on anti-government protesters and for supplying drones to Russia, while the ninth round of Russian sanctions would put nearly 200 other people and entities on the EU’s sanctions list.

“The G7 meeting will take place today – Ukraine will participate, and now we have coordinated our positions with America,” Zelensky said after his call with Biden.

Zelensky also said he spoke with the US president about Ukraine’s need for effective anti-aircraft defense systems to protect the population.

Biden told Zelensky that Washington is prioritizing efforts to bolster Ukraine’s air defense through the assistance it provides, the White House said in a statement.

Earlier, Zelensky said he had a “very meaningful” conversation with Macron on “defence, energy, economics and diplomacy” that lasted more than an hour and “very specific” talks with Erdogan on guaranteeing Ukraine’s grain exports.

Turkey, which mediated peace talks in the early months of the war, worked alongside the United Nations in a grain deal, and opened Ukrainian ports to exports in July after a six-month de facto Russian blockade.

Erdogan’s office said the Turkish leader made a phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, calling for a quick end to the conflict.

In addition to talking about energy and grain, the Kremlin said in a statement, Putin “outlined his fundamental assessment of the situation surrounding Ukraine.”

Putin said last week that Moscow’s near complete loss of confidence in the West would make reaching a final settlement over Ukraine more difficult and warned of a protracted war.

Macron has defended diplomacy in the conflict. But some of the western allies, Kiev and the Baltic states, were alarmed by the French president’s mixed messages. Macron said it was up to Kiev to decide when to negotiate with Moscow, while also saying security guarantees were needed for Russia.

There are no peace talks and no end in sight to Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two, which Moscow calls a “special military operation” and describes Ukraine and its allies as an act of unprovoked aggression.

Moscow shows no signs of being willing to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and pre-war borders, saying that the four regions it claims it annexed from Ukraine in September are part of Russia “forever”. The government in Kiev ruled out ceding any land to Russia in exchange for peace.

On the ground in Ukraine, the entire eastern front line is constantly bombarded as fierce fighting breaks out between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

Moscow has also been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with waves of missile and drone strikes since October, at times cutting electricity to millions of civilians in the winter, when average temperatures can be several degrees below zero.

(Reporting by Nick Starkov in Kiev). Additional reporting by Ronald Popeskey in Winnipeg, Canada; Written by Lydia Kelly. Editing by Grant McCall and Simon Cameron-Moore

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