New Delhi: The US is hardly optimistic of a negotiated end to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. President Joe Biden’s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, warned on Sunday on these lines even as pressure continued to build on Washington ahead of a crucial NATO Summit in Europe this week.
“We have supported the negotiations that President Zelensky has attempted with the Russians, and I use the word attempted because the negotiations seem to be one-sided," she said, adding the Russians have "not leaned in to any possibility" for a negotiated and diplomatic solution.
“We tried before Russia decided to move forward in this brutal attack on Ukraine and those diplomatic efforts were not responded to well by the Russians, and they’re not responding now. But we’re still hopeful," she maintained.
NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg said Turkey is doing some real effort to try to facilitate, support talks between Russia and Ukraine. "It’s far too early to say whether these talks can lead to any concrete outcome," he said.
Zelensky also sounded pessimistic. “If these attempts fail, that would mean that this is a third world war", he told a TV programme. “We have to use any format, any chance, to have the possibility of negotiating, of talking to Russian president Vladimir Putin,” Zelensky said.
The US is still not committing its forces on ground. Biden, who faces growing dissatisfaction over his approach to the war, will travel to Brussels on Thursday. He will hear a proposal from Poland for NATO to send a peacekeeping force into Ukraine.
But his envoy in the UN, Thomas-Greenfield said this was unlikely. “I can’t preview what decisions will be made and how NATO will respond to the Polish proposal….. American troops will not be on the ground in Ukraine at this moment. The president has been clear on that," she said.
Republicans are critical in America of the pace and content of US support for Ukraine. Following Zelensky’s address to US Congress, the White House announced $ 800m in military aid, following a $13.6bn package.
However, President Biden has rejected a no-fly zone and the transfer of Polish Mig fighter jets, media reports said.
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