European leaders are gathering in Paris on Tuesday as they attempt to revive interest in a peaceful settlement to the war in Ukraine, just as Washington and the world’s focus has moved on to the Venezuela crisis.
The U.S.′ capture and arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and their subsequent transfer to the U.S. on criminal charges has garnered global media attention, increasing the risk that Washington’s interest in securing a Ukraine peace deal could wane.
European officials are keen to revive the momentum seen in pre-Christmas talks between the U.S. and its Ukrainian and Russian counterparts, which were aimed at securing an agreement around a 20-point peace plan to end almost four years of fighting.
The so-called “Coalition of the Willing” — a group of countries that say they’re willing to provide post-war security guarantees and peacekeeping forces to Ukraine — is set to meet in the French capital to discuss the elements of the peace plan that have been agreed so far, as well as the remaining stumbling blocks to a deal, namely, security guarantees for Ukraine and territorial concessions demanded by Moscow.
Russia rejects the idea of European nations providing security guarantees for Kyiv, or deploying peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, and wants Ukraine to cede its eastern Donbas region to Moscow. Ukraine has said it’s willing to drop its NATO membership ambitions but needs guarantees to prevent future Russian aggression.
