Ukraine is ready to discuss with Russia not only an “airport” truce, but also other formats – in particular, “energy” or “port”. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sibiga during a conversation with journalists on the sidelines of the forum “Ukraine – Africa. Past, present and future of relations,” Ukrinform reported on May 26.
According to Sibiga, the Ukrainian side proposes to choose one specific direction and try to implement it within a clearly defined time frame in order to show the effectiveness of this approach.
“It could be an ‘airport’ truce, it could be an ‘energy’ truce, it could be a ‘port’ truce. That is, let’s choose a direction, a case, a matter and try to resolve it within a clearly defined time frame,” the Foreign Minister said.
He added that Ukraine plans to discuss relevant initiatives with the foreign ministers of the EU countries, as well as with the Russian side.
On May 11, Sibiga stated that Kyiv was proposing to introduce a temporary agreement with the Russian Federation on a mutual renunciation of attacks on airports as a possible first step towards resuming peace negotiations. He noted that such an “airport” truce could become a practical element for launching a dialogue with Russia.
Sibiga also suggested that Moscow might be interested in such an initiative due to the vulnerability of Russian airports to long-range strikes from Ukraine.
