Ukraine courts global South as war in Black Sea flares

By Daryna Krasnolutska & Alberto Nardelli

UKRAINE a nd its allies are making their case for Kyiv’s peace plan this weekend to more than 40 countries as the war with Russia intensifies with attacks on key shipping routes in the Black Sea.

The negotiations in Saudi Arabia are aimed at building international support for Ukraine’s framework for potential peace talks and a l asting deal—prospects that so far seem remote as the war approaches its 18th month.

The conflict has moved into a new phase since Russia axed a grain deal last month, launching attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure and prompting a response from Kyiv that’s putting at risk commodity routes and key hubs in the B lack Sea region.

Kyiv and its backers in the US and Europe are hoping the meetings in Jeddah that started Saturday will help get their messages across to major global players such as Brazil, South Africa, China and India, countering the narratives from Russia. Moscow wasn’t invited and denounced the gathering as a “hoax.”

“Consolidation of the world is one of the most essential tasks,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address to the nation. “The greater t he consolidation of the world for the sake of restoring a just peace is the sooner an end will be put to the bombs and missiles with which Moscow wants to replace the norms of international law.”

The talks come as Russia’s war on Ukraine increasingly threatens the shipment of raw materials t hrough the Kerch Strait and the

Black Sea. Most of Russia’s grain exports and a significant share of its oil pass through the shipping lanes, while Moscow sought to cripple further Ukraine’s ability to export the cereals.

Drone attack

U K RAINE u sed a sea drone to pierce the hull of a Russian oil tanker in the strait and followed the attack with a warning that six Russian ports—including commodity hubs Novorossiysk, Tuapse and Taman—will be part of t he “war risk area” until further notice. The Russian tanker, which Ukraine said was carrying fuel for Russian troops, was damaged but still afloat on Saturday.

That followed the closure for several hours of the Novorossiysk port in the Black Sea on Friday, after a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian naval vessel. Rus - sia’s Foreign Ministry said the a ttack on the oil tanker won’t go unanswered, and Russian troops launched a barrage of missiles at Ukraine late Saturday afternoon.

Both Ukraine and Russia are significant food exporters, and the war pushed up prices on global markets. Delegations in Jeddah discussed the impact of the war on the most vulnerable countries, according to a senior official from the French foreign ministry.

‘Peace formula’

Z E l E NSKYY w ants the Jeddah meeting to pave the way for a summit of leaders backing the 10-point “ peace formula” he released last year, Ihor Zhovkva, Zelenskyy’s deputy chief of staff focused on foreign affairs, said in an interview this week. “ We can’t talk about security in the world or even in our region without taking into account the positions of countries that are global l eaders,” Zhovkva said. “How can we talk about peace in Ukraine without involving the countries of the Global South?”

So far, key elements of that draft haven’t gotten much traction beyond Kyiv’s allies, since its d emands for a full withdrawal of Russian troops are a nonstarter in Moscow. As a result, the Jeddah meetings aren’t expected to yield immediate results, just as a first round of discussions in Copenhagen in June didn’t either.

C hina skipped that round but is sending envoy l i Hui to Jeddah. Ukraine and its allies have called on China to use its strong ties with Moscow to push for a negotiated settlement — and a European s ource said China’s participation in the meeting was active.

Beijing released its own principles for a peace deal earlier this y ear, but those mediation efforts haven’t made much progress given its public backing of Russian President Vladimir Putin. S till, China’s participation reflected Russia’s growing isolation, a nd its envoy didn’t repeat any of the Russian arguments at the Saudi meeting, said the senior official from French Foreign Ministry.

The willingness of Saudi Arabia, which has maintained strong t ies with Russia since the invasion, to host the meeting suggests Kyiv may be making progress engaging nations beyond its closest allies. The kingdom, which has been seeking to raise its diplomatic profile, aspires to help mediate between Ukraine and Russia. With assistance from Simone Iglesias and Samy Adghirni/Bloomberg