Reasons for optimism on Ukraine peace deal but pressure on Russia must continue, Taoiseach says
Micheál Martin
said there is 'optimism' and 'promise' following
Monday's landmark White House meeting
, but world leaders must put more pressure on
Russia
to agree to a ceasefire with
Ukraine
.
Following another 'coalition of the willing' meeting on Tuesday morning, Mr Martin again called on Russia to return an estimated 20,000 Ukrainian children who have been abducted.
Earlier this month, Russia published a catalogue of almost 300 Ukrainian children which it said were available for adoption.
The plight of abducted Ukrainian children was raised at Monday's White House meeting, which was the first time in American political history that so many world leaders had attended one summit.
READ MORE
'I welcome that the talks in Washington also focused on the human dimension of securing a just peace for Ukraine and that the issue of abducted children and the imprisonment of civilians is getting the attention it deserves. I call again on Russia to return all the Ukrainian children abducted since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and to release all civilians being held unlawfully,' Mr Martin said.
'At today's meeting of the coalition of the willing, I once again assured president
[Volodymyr] Zelenskiy
that Ireland stands with Ukraine and we will continue to support the people of Ukraine on their path towards a just and durable peace.'
The online meeting of which the Taoiseach attended was convened by the French president
Emmanuel Macron
and British prime minister
Keir Starmer
. It was then followed by an online meeting of members of the European Council, which convened by European Council president António Costa.
The meetings followed the Washington summit between Mr Zelenskiy Mr Trump and European leaders including European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
Mr Martin said that reports from Mondays meeting 'suggest reasons for optimism'.
'I again thank President Trump for his initiative and commitment which has brought us closer to our objective of ending Russia's war of aggression and achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine,' Mr Martin said.
The Taoiseach said leaders on Tuesday discussed the security guarantees 'that could be provided by Europe and the US to Ukraine following an end to Russia's war aggression against Ukraine'.
'As I said after the meeting of the coalition on Monday, Ireland stands ready to play our part – building on support we have already committed to Ukraine for non-lethal military equipment and our openness to contribute to a peacekeeping mission in line with the UN Charter,' he said.
Mr Martin added: 'While the talks in Washington show promise, we must continue to exert pressure on Russia to agree to a ceasefire and engage seriously with negotiations on a just and lasting peace, including through the continued implementation of EU sanctions. The conflict cannot be allowed to continue while a path to peace is laid.'
Ukraine: Possibility and peril as Trump pushes for Putin-Zelenskiy meeting
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Irish Times
19 minutes ago
- Irish Times
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Let's be brutally honest about recent events. Donald Trump is – and is behaving like – an unpredictable, selfish ignoramus. He is constantly mollycoddled by a group of sycophants – whether domestic or international – to prevent him from crashing the car. To recap, he pronounced solemnly that unless there was an immediate ceasefire, Vladimir Putin 's Russia would itself face severe sanctions. He threatened India with sanctions for continued purchase of Russian oil. He stated that there had to be a ceasefire ahead of any meaningful negotiations. All this was done to show that he was squaring up to Putin. All a pretence. He rolled out the red carpet in Alaska for Putin and within hours withdrew publicly any demand for a ceasefire. Putin was freed to continue his murderous barrage of Ukrainian civilian targets. But the meeting was described as 'productive'. The body language was very friendly. Strangely, it now became up to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to do a deal with Putin. The deal would involve a 'land swap'. The war, apparently, could go on until Zelenskiy offered Putin unspecified slices of Ukraine's sovereign territory. Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he and Putin had discussed land swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine and had 'largely agreed'. READ MORE He invited Zelenskiy to Washington to outline these new US positions. Because of their collective fear that Trump was about to impose a Putin-designed peace on Ukraine, European allies of Zelenskiy engaged in feverish diplomacy and statement-making. They insisted that Ukraine had to be party to any negotiations leading to any deal to end Putin's murderous war. Eventually, the European leaders came up with the idea that they would physically accompany Zelenskiy to the White House to prevent any repetition of the disgraceful and cowardly Oval Office mauling to which he was subjected by Trump and JD Vance 5½ months earlier. The result was a nervous, contrived engagement with the media in which the Europeans and Zelenskiy all engaged in sycophantic head-nodding and dressed up all their comments as being endorsements of carefully chosen shards of Trump's shifting opinions. The scene was vaguely resonant of medieval courtiers dealing with an unpredictable, irascible king. It had to pass off with no hint of disagreement of any kind. Now Trump has apparently settled on a process that Putin and Zelenskiy must meet on a bilateral basis – presumably without a prior ceasefire – and exchange incompatible demands. This will be done in the absence of the idiot-king. Then there should be what Trump refers to as a 'trilat' – a meeting which might end the war, with Trump preparing to accept the Nobel peace prize for which he has already been nominated by the great international pacifist, Binyamin Netanyahu . That appears to be the 'deal' in Trump's mind. Frankly, all this is a sick charade. Zelenskiy is constitutionally prohibited from agreeing to a land swap or surrender of Ukraine's territory. He cannot do so. The most that could be done is some agreement to put a peace deal to the people of Ukraine in some form of referendum or plebiscite. Ukraine cannot agree to Russian demands that it abandon the portion of Donetsk which it still holds and has heavily fortified as a defensive bulwark against renewed Russian aggression. Nor can Zelenskiy credibly demand that his army continue to bravely defend those lands against the ongoing murderous Russian onslaught if they sense that their sacrifices will be thrown away at a conference table presided over by Trump. Any negotiations along those lines would simply destroy the eminently expendable Ukrainian president. Zelenskiy, for his part, must face up to the reality that Ukraine does not have the resources, capacity or the allies to win back the lands Russia has seized . Crimea is not going to revert to Ukrainian control. Crimea, Russia 's window on the Black Sea, was Russian territory until 1954 when it was assigned to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic for purely internal USSR political convenience. All now depends on the extent, depth and credibility of the security guarantees that the West can deliver for Ukraine if a deal is done on the basis of the current potential ceasefire line. Putin probably calculates that he may be able to do a deal that still allows the Kremlin to manipulate Ukrainian democratic politics and elections into the future, as it has done in the past. It has also meddled in a similar way in countries such as Moldova and Romania. While Ukraine will not join Nato, the West owes it security guarantees similar to Article 5 of the Nato treaty and the arms to defend itself. The EU must be willing to give Ukraine European Economic Area status as soon as possible. Trump simply cannot be trusted. He despises Zelenskiy and is in thrall to Putin. The summit in Washington had all the substance of a late-night game of charades at the court of King Donald.
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Irish Times
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- Irish Times
Ukraine: Possibility and peril as Trump pushes for Putin-Zelenskiy meeting
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