A group of world leaders have jointly expressed concern over the “direction of travel” of US president Donald Trump’s peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war. However, they have also signalled a willingness to engage with the process.
The leaders of 11 countries associated with the Coalition of the Willing, which strongly backs Ukraine in the conflict, met on the margins of the G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday.
Senior EU officials were also present at the meeting. Participants included British prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron. Taoiseach Micheál Martin was also present.
In a joint statement issued after the meeting, they said: “We are ready to engage in order to ensure that a future peace is sustainable. We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force.
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“We are also concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack.”
Speaking at the event in Johannesburg, Mr Martin said there were serious concerns over the proposed peace plan. He said it was a “very serious moment” in the conflict which has been ongoing for 3½ years.
“The European position is to engage with that process and to continue to support Ukraine as it engages in discussions,” he said.
There is to be a series of meetings on Sunday as well as ongoing engagement between European leaders, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and others.
The Taoiseach added: “It is a very serious moment in the war and one that has to be handled with some considerable degree of firmness and skill to get the right outcomes for Ukraine.”
Mr Martin said he had made a contribution to the meeting, adding that the nature of the discussions was confidential.
Asked if Mr Trump would listen to the position being put forward by European leaders, he said: “I think he will listen. We can see from president Trump’s disposition that he hates war. He feels war is very wasteful of human life, very damaging to economies. I think that’s a good principle to have.”
Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Germany and Norway all participated in Saturday’s meeting.
Regarding a report in The Irish Times about Russia interfering with radio signals, the Taoiseach said he was reassured that the interference in a particular high-frequency channel would not have been in any way threatening to Irish aviation.
