Poland: ‘Peace Talks On Ukraine Might Start This Winter’ As Causalities Hit 1 Million

Poland: ‘Peace Talks On Ukraine Might Start This Winter’ As Causalities Hit 1 Million (Worthy News Focus)

Stefan J. Bos

Poland’s prime minister suggested Tuesday that peace talks on the war in Ukraine might start within weeks and said Warsaw wants to play a leading role in ending Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two.

Donald Tusk spoke amid reports that several people were killed and injured in Russian missile strikes on a private clinic and other sites in Ukraine on Tuesday. 

The Polish leader told journalists he would discuss the crisis with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who expressed concern about Russia capturing Ukrainian territory in a war that is thought to have killed and injured up to 1 million people, most of them soldiers. 

Tusk stressed that his country wants to be heavily involved in peace negotiations to stop the nearly three-year-old armed conflict when it takes over the European Union’s rotating presidency on January 1. 

Poland seems to be in a better position to do so than Hungary, which currently holds the EU presidency.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán tried to talk peace in Kyiv, Moscow, and even Beijing but lacked EU backing in part due to his perceived pro-Kremlin views and concerns about the rule of law in Hungary. 

Yet Tusk sounded more optimistic, saying that “Our [EU] presidency will notably be co-responsible for what the political landscape will look like, perhaps how the situation will look during [peace] negotiations, which could begin – though there are still question marks – in the winter [in Europe] of this year,” Tusk told media.

“Today, I will have the chance to talk about this with [Ukrainian] President Volodymyr Zelensky,” he added

The EU and NATO military alliance member state is seen as a crucial logistics hub for Western military aid to Kyiv. Tusk said, “Macron will be in town the day after tomorrow. He will want to inform us of the results of the Paris talks.”

Macron, Zelenskyy, and U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump held a three-way meeting on Saturday in Paris that Tusk described as “short but important.”

Tusk noted that German opposition leader Friedrich Merz—who leads opinion polls ahead of February elections—will also visit Poland after a visit to Kyiv.

Additionally, the prime minister said he was “in constant contact” with Scandinavian and Baltic allies, “who see in Poland and Poland’s [EU] presidency a leader” in peace-building initiatives between Ukraine and Russia. “I spoke with the Swedish prime minister, and in a dozen hours, the Estonian prime minister will be here in Warsaw,” added Tusk.

However, in Ukraine, on the battlefields and beyond, there were no signs of peace coming soon, with at least three people being killed and five hurt in a Russian missile strike that destroyed a private clinic in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, local governor Ivan Fedorov said.

Further missile attacks on Ukraine’s north-eastern region of Kharkiv injured 10 people and damaged an administrative building, local authorities said Tuesday.

Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov confirmed that Russian forces carried out two missile attacks on the town of Zlatopil.

The attacks underscored concerns that a deal with Russia to end the conflict is not guaranteed, despite Ukraine warming this week to potential negotiations. 

Professor Tim Willasey-Wilsey from King’s College London said that with Russia gaining ground in Ukraine’s east, Russian President Vladimir “Putin may well think, why don’t I just carry on?”

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