Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Monday that he would hold talks with partners on energy issues in France this week after weeks of massive blackouts caused by Russian attacks.
He said the so-called Ramstein format meeting would include G7 industrialized countries, partners from Northern Europe and the Baltics. He explicitly appointed ministers from the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Russia’s systematic attacks have left millions of people in Ukraine suffering hours-long power, water and heating outages.
The announcement comes a day before Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to hold a new round of peace talks in Geneva.
Zelensky reiterated on social media that he believed ceding territory to Russia was the wrong path.
He said Kyiv was ready to compromise, but that did not mean it would give up territory, arguing the country was not ready to accept a compromise that would allow Russia to recover, quickly return and occupy Ukraine.
Zelensky stressed the importance of U.S. security guarantees to Ukraine, telling the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that Washington had offered a 15-year term, while Kyiv wanted guarantees to last at least 20 years.