Peace talks on Ukraine have begun in Saudi Arabia. Russia has not been invited

Two-day talks on a peaceful settlement of the war in Ukraine began in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah on August 5, Reuters reports .

The start of the talks was also reported by the Saudi state television channel Al-Ekhbariya. After media reports about the start of the talks, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, published an emoji of the Ukrainian and Saudi flags on his Telegram channel.

As Reuters notes, senior officials from about 40 countries will take part in the talks. Ukraine will present the “peace formula” proposed by President Volodymyr Zelensky at the meeting. The talks will also involve representatives from the United States, the European Union, and key developing countries such as India and Brazil. On August 4, China confirmed that it would send a representative to the talks, Li Hui, China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs.

The New York Times wrote that at the meeting in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine would make a “new diplomatic push” to secure support from countries that do not support either side in the war, and would also try to “weaken Russia’s position.”

Russia was not invited to the summit. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called the meeting in Jeddah an attempt to "take advantage of the sincere intentions of a number of states in order to put together an anti-Russian coalition."

The press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia will monitor the negotiations on Ukraine, but, in the opinion of the Kremlin, there are no prerequisites for entering into peace talks with the current position of Kiev. A source of RIA Novosti in the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Saudi Arabia notified the Russian Federation that it will inform Moscow about the results of the summit in Jeddah.

Update . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address that 42 countries are represented at the meeting in Jeddah. “Different continents, different political approaches to global affairs, but all are united by the priority of international law. And this is precisely why Ukraine proposed the “Peace Formula,” because the international order based on rules and violated by Russian aggression must be restored,” the Ukrainian president said.