Ukraine crisis talks must be done in good faith

This is an editorial from China Daily.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, now in its fifth year, has only intensified over time, fueled by the continuous military support from different parties, particularly NATO. The West has also implemented multiple rounds of sanctions against Russia, aiming to force its capitulation. However, these sanctions have not achieved their intended effect. Instead, the conflict persists.

As Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico rightly pointed out in a video address on Facebook on Saturday, the United States and its allies "naively believed that through Ukraine — and its full political, military and financial support — they could bring hated Russia to its knees". Fico's observation echoes the reality that instead of ending the crisis, the help extended to Ukraine has prolonged it.

The latest meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, at the Kremlin on Saturday, therefore, represented a critical moment for reassessing the strategies employed by the West.

The Kremlin announced that the talks were "substantive, constructive and extremely frank", during which Putin reaffirmed Russia's readiness to continue joint work with the US in search of political and diplomatic solutions to the crisis and once again emphasized the necessity of eliminating all root causes of the conflict.

While any dialogue aimed at ending the conflict is to be welcomed, a genuine resolution that will pave the way to peace has to look beyond the immediate battlefield and address the deeper historical and geopolitical realities that have fueled this crisis.

From the Russian perspective, the Ukraine crisis is a culmination of a long-standing security dilemma. Central to this is the repeated expansion of NATO, which Russia has consistently viewed as a significant threat to its security.

Ultimately, the path to peace lies in political negotiations, not in the perpetuation of the fighting or sanctions. That both Russia and Ukraine have ordered a 72-hour temporary ceasefire during the Moscow talks shows that both are inclined to de-escalation if a path can be agreed.

Russia and Ukraine have both displayed remarkable tenacity, but that is all the more reason to stop this grinding crisis — a conflict that the whole world is footing the bill for. The fighting cannot be allowed to continue simply because both sides refuse to yield.

Although Ukraine's defense production capacity is rapidly growing, with US capabilities now stretched by the Middle East crisis, the US administration is increasingly inclined toward withdrawing military aid to Ukraine and pushing for negotiations. Meanwhile, European support for Ukraine faces uncertainty due to tightening budgets and internal divisions.

In the interests of peace, the renewed US involvement in mediating the Russia-Ukraine conflict should be conducted in earnest. That means encouraging Russia and Ukraine to come to the negotiating table, addressing the root causes of this crisis, and working toward a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture for Europe.

China has consistently adhered to the direction of a political settlement to the Ukraine crisis and has maintained contact with relevant parties for an early end to the crisis. On Tuesday, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Sun Lei, called on the parties to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the wider international community to step up efforts toward a ceasefire and a political settlement, warning that continued fighting is causing mounting civilian casualties and wider spillover effects.

As Sun noted, adding fuel to the fire and exploiting the conflict to create division and confrontation would only make a political settlement more difficult.