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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
Vladimir Zelensky wants a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin in an open letter. The Ukrainian president said he doesn't want to wait for the U.S. to shift its focus back from the Middle East before talking to his Russian counterpart in a bid to end the war. Shona Murray, Europe correspondent with Euronews, is with us now. Good morning, Shona. Morning, Clare.
So is this an attempt to really set up a meeting between the two or is it just to draw focus back to what's been happening in Ukraine?
Chapter 2: What does Zelenskyy's open letter to Putin reveal?
I'd say it's both. I mean, I think this is the first time Zelensky has addressed Putin in such a direct way with this letter, going through the last 26 years of aggression from Russia towards Ukraine, saying that he's comfortable with war, saying that we wage this war individually because he wants to basically take over Ukraine. He's saying, forget about your excuses around NATO.
And indeed, at the same time, does have to try to claw back
the global focus on the Ukraine-Russia war, because obviously even in Europe, which obviously is being affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the focus is the Strait of Hormuz and the war in Iran, because the Europeans have to deal with high energy prices, gas prices, oil prices, as well as consistent threats from Donald Trump and criticisms from Donald Trump for the Europeans not helping to reopen the Strait.
So there's a lot of tensions that has taken away any attention towards Ukraine and Zelensky's really trying to get that back.
Okay, I wondered whether it was a genuine attempt though to set up a meeting because there were a couple of pops at Putin in the letter too, weren't there?
Yeah, I mean, indeed. He said you are comfortable with war and you've completely changed relations over the past 26 between our two countries, which he said were stable after Ukraine became independent from the Soviet Union. But we already know that Putin never believed that the Soviet Union should have broken up in the first place and Ukraine was really its number one target.
The question is, though, I mean... How viable is this conversation going to be? Because we know that Putin has never shown any interest for ending the war, for having peace, because he will fail, therefore, in his endeavor to take back the whole of Ukraine and Kyiv.
And there's so many negotiations that are still outstanding in relation to the fate of the Donbass and other parts of territories that the Russians are occupying.
Although the other piece of that is that military experts have said for the past couple of months at least that the Ukrainians are very slowly clawing back inch by inch, kilometre by kilometre, square kilometre by square kilometre, a territory of Ukraine from the Russians. And that is a huge feat given the size of the two armies and the size of the military prowess of the Russians.
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Chapter 3: How is the focus on Ukraine affected by global events?
Remember, the Europeans, before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Europeans, Macron at the time, Chancellor Scholz of Europe and others, Alexander Stubb of Finland, went to meet with Putin to try to negotiate to prevent him from the full-scale invasion. So they will do anything diplomatic that is required, particularly if the Ukrainians are on side.
On top of that, the Europeans, as well as maybe 10, 15 other countries, including Ireland, are part of this coalition of the willing, which will put peacekeepers and other tripwire, maybe troops in Ukraine, in Ukrainian territory as a security guarantee if and when there is a peace deal in place.
So the Europeans are ready to protect Ukraine in the event of this sort of hostilities coming to an end.
Shona, thank you very much. Shona Murray there joining us from Euronews.
The Clare Byrne Show. With Aviva Insurance. Weekday mornings at 9. On Newstalk. Conversation that counts.
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