On December 16, a secret meeting of representatives of the United States and other allies with Ukraine took place in Saudi Arabia. The parties discussed a peace plan, but significant progress was not achieved. Bloomberg reports this with a link to its own sources.
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According to the publication, Ukraine and its allies from the G7 continue to resist calls from the countries of the Global South to talk directly with Russia.
The G7 includes: the USA, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada.
Countries of the Global South include China, India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Brazil and other countries in the southern part of the Earth.
While senior officials from India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey joined the December meeting in Riyadh, other major Global South countries that attended some of the previous major sessions, notably China, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, did not send representatives.
Beijing is seen by many participating countries as a key factor in influencing Moscow, given the close ties between them. Brazil, which holds the G20 presidency this year, has submitted a written statement, the people said.
Kiev and its G7 allies reaffirmed their view that a just peace must respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and said Russian President Vladimir Putin's goals had not changed and he had shown no sign of a serious desire to engage in substantive negotiations or respects past agreements.
Allies have made it clear that they will continue to support Ukraine, and the EU and US are confident that support packages will be agreed.
Ukraine and its allies have planned another meeting of the wider group in Switzerland next week ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos and has invited more than 100 countries, sources said.
Kiev wants to hold a leaders' summit on the project early this year and use it as a springboard to develop a plan based on a number of agreed principles as the basis for future negotiations with Moscow.
Some countries believe that a leader-level summit in the coming months is premature, while others want to immediately involve Russia in this process.
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