By Nerijus Adomaitis and Yuliia Dysa
OSLO/KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday Ukrainian experts would be present at upcoming talks involving the United States and Russia, but will not be in the same room as Russia, as a diplomatic push to end the war intensifies.
Russian and U.S. experts are due to discuss ways to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea at talks on a possible peace settlement in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the Kremlin said.
“There will be technical teams present there,” Zelenskiy said during a visit to Norway.
“I understand that the structure is the following: there will be a meeting of Ukraine and America and then some shuttle diplomacy, as our American colleagues said, America with Russia,” he told a press conference with Norway’s premier.
Zelenskiy said on Wednesday Kyiv would draw up a list of facilities that could be subject to a partial ceasefire brokered by Washington. That list could include not only energy, but also rail and port infrastructure, he said.
SHORING UP EUROPEAN SUPPORT
The Ukrainian leader was speaking on Thursday in Norway, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, a day after his trip to like-minded Finland, as he seeks to shore up European backing amid divergences among countries in the region over how to bolster Kyiv and the EU’s own military capabilities.
Earlier on Thursday, Zelenskiy urged EU leaders meeting in Brussels to approve a package of at least 5 billion euros for artillery purchases for Ukraine and called for continued pressure on Russia.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has scaled back a proposal to pledge up to 40 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine this year, with each country contributing according to its economic size, after resistance from some countries, particularly in southern Europe.
When he addressed the EU summit by video, Zelenskiy said it was “simply anti-European when one person blocks decisions that are important for the entire continent”, referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban’s opposition to EU statements in support of Ukraine.
The Nordic and Baltic countries, including Norway, are in the camp of more support to Ukraine.
Norway, which is not an EU member, said on March 6 it would more than double its financial support to Kyiv this year, to 85 billion crowns ($8.03 billion) from a plan agreed in November of 35 billion crowns.
That extra support was now being “immediately translated into support for artillery ammunition, for drone capacity, and also for investment in Ukraine’s own industry,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told the press conference on Thursday.
Norway is the only European nation that can finance increased support to Ukraine from its own coffers rather than from debt as it is home to the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, with assets of $1.8 trillion.
Norway’s wealth fund has seen soaring income from gas sales to Europe as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
($1 = 10.5804 Norwegian crowns)
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Yuliia Dysa and Olena Harmash in KyivWriting by Gwladys FoucheEditing by Frances Kerry)
