The US is urging Ukraine to use a “window of opportunity” for peace talks to end the war, as world leaders prepare for a showdown with Vladimir Putin at next week’s G20 summit.
A top US general said a lull in fighting over winter might open the door to a negotiated settlement, as White House officials hold direct talks with the Kremlin.
It comes as Russia started a major withdrawal from Kherson, allowing Ukraine to advance on the only regional capital Moscow captured earlier this year.
Joe Biden’s administration has been privately telling Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, to drop his refusal to talk with Russia, it was reported last week
On Thursday, Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, denied pressuring Ukraine to make concessions. But the senior Biden official has made a surprise visit to Kyiv in recent days and has been speaking directly with the Kremlin, according to US media.
“What we’re doing is consulting as partners and showing our support, not just through public statements or moral support but through the tangible physical support of military assistance,” he said of Ukraine.
The new diplomatic drive comes ahead of next week’s G20 summit – where Putin, the Russian president, may appear by videolink. Sergei Lavrov, his foreign minister, is set to lead the Russian delegation.
On Thursday, Rishi Sunak and Mr Zelensky discussed confronting Russia at the meeting, where Ukraine’s key allies sit down with several non-Western powers that have so far maintained a neutral position on the war.
Mr Zelensky said that he and the Prime Minister “agreed common positions” for the summit, which opens in Bali on Tuesday.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The leaders agreed that any Russian withdrawal from the occupied city of Kherson would demonstrate strong progress for the Ukrainian forces and reinforce the weakness of Russia’s military offensive, but it was right to continue to exercise caution until the Ukrainian flag was raised over the city.
“The Prime Minister praised the bravery of the Ukrainian armed forces and reiterated the UK’s unwavering military, economic and political support.”
In his nightly address on Thursday, Mr Zelensky said Ukraine had to “go all the way – both on the battlefield and in diplomacy” to liberate the rest of its territory from Russia.
Mr Biden, the US president, will use the G20 summit for his first meeting with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, it was also announced on Thursday.
China has largely refrained from criticising Russia’s war in Ukraine, but has so far held off supplying Moscow with arms.
Mr Sullivan said Mr Biden would discuss Ukraine with Mr Xi, and praised the Chinese president’s recent criticism of Russian threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Ahead of the G20 summit, General Mike Milley, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said that Russia and Ukraine should “seize the moment” to restart dialogue on a possible end to the conflict.
He said Russia and Ukraine had each seen about 100,000 soldiers killed or wounded and negotiations would depend on both sides accepting that they cannot achieve battlefield victory, adding that a potential stalemate in fighting over the winter could provide a “window of opportunity” for negotiations.
On Thursday, Ukraine announced the liberation of 41 settlements after Russia announced it was abandoning Kherson.
Kyiv’s forces entered the front-line village of Snikhurovka, about 30 miles from Kherson city, early on Tuesday. By evening, there were unconfirmed reports they had reached Chornobaivka, a suburb within 10 miles of the city.
Mikhailo Podolyak, an aide to Mr Zelensky, warned that there could be intense fighting for the city and that Russia might use artillery firing from the eastern side of the river to destroy it.
Gen Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, ordered all Russian troops to be withdrawn from the right bank of the Dnieper river in a televised meeting with Russia’s commander in Ukraine on Wednesday.
Gen Sergei Surovikin said the position was untenable and the retreat was necessary to save the lives of Russian soldiers. However, the decision has been widely accepted by Russian propagandists as a defeat.
Ukrainian officials have responded angrily to previous calls for peace talks, warning that Russia would use any temporary pause to re-arm if it is not comprehensively defeated.
His remarks followed a flurry of reports that American officials had demanded Mr Zelensky drop his public refusal to negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is in power.
Mr Sullivan over the weekend flew to Kyiv to meet Mr Zelensky and has also recently spoken by telephone with Nikolai Patrushev, his Russian counterpart, in an apparent bid to restart dialogue.
Mr Zelensky did not mention his previous refusal to speak to Putin in a public address listing his conditions for talks on Monday.
He said that Russia must restore Ukrainian territorial integrity, pay reparations and allow the prosecution of war criminals if talks are to succeed.
Sources close to the Ukrainian government suggested Kyiv was open to talking, but that Mr Zelensky had not changed his view that attempts to negotiate with Putin are useless.
“If you look at Putin’s latest speeches, he has not changed his strategic objectives at all,” said Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former defence minister who remains close to the government. “So what kind of compromise can there be?”
Mr Zagorodnyuk said territorial concessions were a red line for Ukraine that Putin would not accept – and that Russia would use any temporary ceasefire as cover to rearm for fresh assaults. He suggested an eventual change of regime in Moscow would bring to power a government more willing to end the war.
Pavlo Klimkin, a former Ukraine foreign minister, said diplomacy must be accompanied by continuing military pressure on the battlefield.
“The West is key,” he said. “The readiness to raise the stakes, to keep the flow of weapons and money.”
The British Government denied that it sees any softening of American resolve following this weeks’ midterm elections.
James Heappey, the Armed Forces minister, told Chopper’s Politics podcast: “Rishi is every bit as committed to what we’re doing in Ukraine as Boris and Liz were. The Ukrainians enjoy political support across the West.”
Asked whether he was worried that US support for Ukraine in the war might be weakening, Mr Heappey added: “The administration is in exactly the right place. When I’ve been in Washington and you meet committee chairs and ranking members from the other side, the consensus is there.”
European diplomatic sources said they were aware of the US initiatives and were seeking clarification about them.
Russia and the United States said on Tuesday they would resume nuclear arms reduction talks in the coming weeks, in the first face-to-face meetings since the February invasion.
The United States is expected to use the meetings to request resumption of on-site inspections under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Russia suspended such inspections in August.
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