Reports have recently emerged of peace talks that took place before Russia invaded Ukraine in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected a peace plan brokered by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The Ukrainian President believed the Russian president could not be trusted to maintain long-term peace.
The latest reports looking into the last days of peace in Ukraine show German and French leaders attempting to broker a peace deal.
The peace deal, put together by Germany, required Ukraine to declare its neutrality from NATO to halt a Russian invasion. Russian negotiators asked President Zelenskyy to declare his nation would abandon any hope of joining NATO. Should Ukraine have agreed to this stipulation, a peace guarantee protecting the borders of Ukraine would have been signed by Russia and the U.S.
President Zelenskyy rejected Germany’s peace deal because he stated he could not trust the Russian president. Zelenskyy was told of the German peace offer on February 19 during a visit with German intelligence officials in Munich.
Along with the Germans’ attempt at peace, French President Emmanuel Macron tried to broker a summit between President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin. As the crisis on the Ukrainian border edged towards an all-out war, the French government tried to find a solution involving the U.S.
Macron spent the night of February 20 talking with U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Macron negotiated a summit between the U.S. and Russian leaders to discuss maintaining the peace in Ukraine. Macron told President Biden he was the last hope for keeping Europe’s peace.
The proposed summit reached the point of negotiating the wording of a press release announcing the talks between the superpowers. President Biden is reported to have been unsure about meeting President Putin, and by the morning of February 21, the Russian leader backed away from the peace discussions.
The role of the U.S. and UK in the Ukraine war has grown.
President Biden announced President Putin should be investigated for war crimes. Increasing sanctions against Russia remain on the table, with the boycotting of Russian oil and natural gas a real possibility. The European Union is unsure about limiting oil and gas imports because it relies on Russian natural resources.