WorthyNews: NATO Chief: ‘Ukraine Not Strong Enough For Peace Talks With Russia’ (Worthy News Focus)

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By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The chief of the NATO military alliance has warned that Ukraine is not in a strong enough position for peace talks with Russia after U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump vowed to end the war between the two nations.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Monday that “clearly Ukraine is not there because they cannot at this moment negotiate from a position of strength.”

In remarks to European Union lawmakers, he added, “We have to do more to make sure by changing the trajectory of the conflict that they can get to that position of strength.”

Trump will be sworn into office as America’s 47th president next Monday after claiming on the campaign trail to bring a swift end to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Yet in recent days, Trump has backtracked on his pledge to end the war within 24 hours as special envoy for the region set a 100-day timeline.

Keith Kellogg, a retired U.S. general, told broadcaster Fox News he would look to broker a “solid and sustainable” agreement to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine by May.

“I think they will come to a solvable solution in the near term. When I say near term, I would like to set a goal on a personal level, on a professional level,” he said. “I would say let’s set it at 100 days and move back.”

WAR TO END

Rutte said Monday, “We all want this war to end, but above all, we want peace to last. Peace will not last if Putin gets his way in Ukraine because then he will press ahead … I am convinced that peace can only last if Ukraine comes to the table from a position of strength.”

While Russia has made some grueling slow gains at the frontlines in recent days, several estimates indicate that those relatively small victories came at a substantial human cost.

Ukraine’s New Year’s Day tally of Russian losses, which includes those killed and wounded, showed that over the last 12 months, Russia lost 430,790 troops.

This is a big jump from the estimated quarter of a million casualties Kyiv said Russia faced in 2023.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers killed in action, and 370,000 more were wounded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy added.

Russia recruited North Korean fighters to relieve pressure on its manpower, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a quarter of them had been wiped out.

“According to preliminary data, the number of killed and wounded North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region already exceeds 3,000 people,” Zelenskyy said last month.

HANDING OVER SOLDIERS

Zelenskyy stressed Sunday he was ready to hand over captured North Korean soldiers to Pyongyang in exchange for the return of Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Russia.

Zelenskyy’s offer came hours after South Korea’s National Intelligence Service confirmed Ukraine’s announcement from the previous day that it had captured two injured North Korean soldiers. One of them reportedly indicated he would prefer to stay in Ukraine.

“Ukraine is ready to hand over [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un’s soldiers to him if he can organize their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia,” Zelensky added on the social media platform Twitter.

There would “undoubtedly be more” North Korean soldiers captured by Kyiv, he added. “There should be no doubt left in the world that the Russian army is dependent on military assistance from North Korea.”

It came as relentless fighting continued in Ukraine and Russia, with more death and destruction reported in several areas, impacting civilians.

Since Sunday, at least one local woman has died in the Ukraine-controlled part of Russia’s Kursk region after Russian strikes damaged a state boarding school in Sudzha where local people were sheltering, a Ukrainian official said.

Moscow also accused Kyiv of “energy terrorism” over what it claimed was an attempted attack on infrastructure for the TurkStream natural gas pipeline that carries Russian gas to Europe via Turkey.

‘ENERGY TERRORISM’ ALLEGED

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the drone strike was a “continuation of the line of energy terrorism that Kyiv has been pursuing, under the curation of its overseas friends, for a long time.”

Elsewhere in the Russian-controlled section of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, a Ukrainian drone killed a 76-year-old woman, claimed Russian-installed Governor Vladimir Saldo.

However, in the same Kherson region, Russian drones were also used for attacks, injuring eight people Sunday in the city of Kherson and a nearby village, according to regional authorities.

In addition, a Ukrainian official said Russian forces were bypassing the logistics hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, which they have fought for months to capture and are focusing instead on cutting supply lines to it.

Major Viktor Trehubov, a Ukrainian army spokesperson, said Russian troops were going around Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian defense has kept them at bay.

He explained that Russian forces tried aiming for a highway leading from there to the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

That route is crucial for supplies feeding Ukrainian forces in the entire region. According to experts familiar with the situation, cutting the highway traffic would also severely weaken Pokrovsk.

ONGOING CLASHES

With ongoing clashes, neighboring countries such as Slovakia have said they agree with incoming President Trump that peace talks should begin soon, despite NATO leadership reluctance.

Zelenskyy said that the Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, could “come to Kyiv on Friday” after Fico invited Ukraine’s president to Slovakia on Monday.

Fico, who recently met Putin in a surprise visit to Moscow, called for negotiations “as soon as possible” after Ukraine cut off cheap Russian natural gas that flows through their countries to Western Europe.

His Christmas season trip frustrated Kyiv and several other EU countries and generated protests at home against Fico’s government.

Thousands of Slovaks took to the streets on Friday to protest against Fico’s journey and his friendly ties with the Kremlin at a rally called “Slovakia is Europe.”

Yet between the political and military warfare, some hopeful signs emerged, with Italy saying it will sign an agreement with Ukraine and Unesco to rebuild the city of Odesa and its cathedral, which was severely damaged by a Russian attack.

The announcement by Antonio Tajani, the Italian foreign minister, came after Ukraine said the Orthodox cathedral was damaged when it was hit during a Russian missile attack on the country’s southern port city in July last year.

MOSCOW DENIES INVOLVEMENT

Russia denied responsibility. “As the [Group of Seven] G7 presidency, we continue to work for a just peace,” Tajani told lawmakers.

He added supporting Ukraine’s energy system was also a priority for Italy, which holds the rotating presidency of the G7 wealthy nations until the end of this year.

And there was more good news for those concerned about a possible ecological catastrophe: German authorities said a Russian oil tanker that had run adrift in the Baltic Sea north of the German island of Rügen after suffering a blackout when its electricity supply failed was maneuvered safely into the port of Sassnitz by tug boats

According to Western sources, the tanker Eventim, containing an estimated 99,000 tons of oil, is believed to be part of Moscow’s extensive operation to circumnavigate sanctions, for which dilapidated, unseaworthy ships are often used.

Authorities effectively impounded the roughly 274-meter (900-foot) vessel with 24 crew members until a decision was made on how to deal with it.

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