Recent developments regarding the conflict between russia and ukraine involve multiple world leaders. russian president vladimir putin and german chancellor olaf scholz held an hour-long call during which the german leader urged putin to find a diplomatic solution that would involve the withdrawal of russian troops from ukraine. french president emmanuel macron and italian foreign minister antonio tajani have also expressed their intention to have a conversation with putin. archbishop of canterbury justin welby has urged russia to stop lying about its actions in ukraine.
Conflict began on 24 february when russia invaded ukraine, leading to the death and wounding of between 10,000 and 13,000 ukrainian soldiers. us general mark milley estimated that around 100,000 russian and 100,000 ukrainian soldiers had been killed or wounded since the war began. ukrainian presidential adviser mykhailo podolyak suggested to ukrainian tv outlet channel 24 that the number of civilians killed could be “significant”. eu commission head ursula von der leyen spoke of 100,000 ukrainian troops and 20,000 civilian deaths in a video address on wednesday.
West’s refusal to recognize the territories annexed by russia has been a major obstacle in the peace talks. president biden has expressed his willingness to meet with russian president vladimir putin, provided that putin is interested in ending the war. putin has expressed his disagreement with the conditions set by the united states, specifically their refusal to recognize new territories in ukraine. macron has also stated that neither he nor president biden would ever ask ukraine to make a compromise that would be unacceptable to them. sergei lavrov, the russian foreign minister, has expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of concrete mediation offered by european countries.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63832151?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
