Portugal’s Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, reiterated today to Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, Taras Kachka, Portugal’s support for the country joining the European Union (EU) and in peace negotiations with Russia.
After meeting by videoconference with European leaders who took part in Monday’s meeting on the war hosted by the US President Donald Trump, Paulo Rangel had a phone conversation with Taras Kachka, reemphasising Portugal’s “support for Ukraine” and “full solidarity in the upcoming negotiations”.
Monday’s meeting in Washington followed the Trump/ Putin summit in Alaska last Friday which failed to produce any announcements related to a settlement of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – but which then resulted in the meeting between Mr Trump and President Zelenskyy, to which various European leaders went also (French president Emmanuel Macron, British prime minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb).
In a message on his social network ‘Truth’, Mr Trump stated afterwards that he had called President Putin and started “preparations for a meeting, at a location to be determined,” between Mr Putin and Mr Zelenskyy.
“After this meeting, we will have a trilateral meeting, with both Presidents, as well as myself,” he added – albeit this is not looking in any way set in stone. Many commentators/ Russian analysts have stressed that Mr Putin is unlikely to agree to a meeting just with Volodymyr Zelenskyy as this would suggest he ‘recognises’ Mr Zelenskyy as the bona-fde leader of Ukraine, which he has always said that he doesn’t.
To complicate the picture further, the president of the European Council, António Costa, has said that in addition to bilateral and trilateral talks between leaders on this conflict, quadrilateral talks should also be held (to include the EU).
This far, Russia has is rejecting calls for a ceasefire and demanding conditions to end its ‘special military operation’ that Ukraine considers ‘unacceptable’ (namely the ceding of four regions which it hasn’t fully occupied, in addition to keeping the Crimean peninsula – ‘taken by Russian’annexed’ against Ukraine’s will in 2014 – and abandoning hopes of joining NATO).
With all the uncertainty in the air (and Russia still bombing Ukrainian towns and cities), a series of meetings at different levels and formats are planned to discuss possible security guarantees (the protection Ukraine is seeking, along with the EU, against future possible invasions by Russia).
Today, Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces of the 32 NATO member countries are meeting, again via videoconference, to discuss the possible format of these guarantees.
Source material: LUSA
