Ukraine and its allies aim to rally global support for a peace blueprint in talks hosted by Saudi Arabia this weekend but a question mark hangs over whether China will take part.
Ukrainian and Western diplomats hope the meeting in Jeddah of national security advisers and other senior officials from some 40 countries will agree on key principles that would underpin any peace settlement to end Russia's war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday he hoped the initiative will lead to a "peace summit" of leaders from around the world this autumn to endorse the principles, based on his own 10-point formula for a peace settlement.
Ukrainian, Russian and international officials say there is no prospect of direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia at the moment, as the war continues to rage and Kyiv seeks to reclaim territory through a counter-offensive.
Neither the Jeddah gathering - which is expected to begin on Friday, with the main discussions on Saturday and Sunday - nor the peace summit would involve Russia, officials say.
Instead, Ukraine aims to first build a bigger coalition of diplomatic support for its vision of peace beyond its core group of Western backers by reaching out to Global South countries such as India, Brazil, South Africa and Turkey.
"One of the main aims of this round of negotiations will be to finally fix a common understanding of what the 10 points are about," Ihor Zhovkva, Zelenskiy's chief diplomatic adviser, told Reuters on Thursday.
The 10 points include calls for the full restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity, a full withdrawal of Russian troops, the protection of food and energy supplies, nuclear safety and the release of all prisoners.
But Western officials concede the initiative can put only limited pressure on Moscow without China, which has maintained close economic and diplomatic ties with Russia and rejected international calls to condemn the invasion of Ukraine.
Officials said on Thursday it was unclear whether Chinese officials would take part in the Jeddah talks - either in person or via video conference. China was invited to a previous round of talks in Copenhagen in late June but did not attend.
"I do think it's critical that not just India, Brazil, and other key partners are participating but also that China is sitting at the table and actually talking peace," said a senior European Commission official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Zhovkva said China's ambassador to Ukraine had attended meetings in Kyiv on the peace initiative and that Ukraine was working on having Chinese participation at Jeddah.
"The invitation is on the table," he said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not answer directly when asked by Reuters whether China would take part in the meeting.
"China is willing to work together with the international community to continue playing a constructive role in calming down the situation," the ministry said.
GRAIN DEAL
In seeking to win over Global South countries, Western officials say they will stress that food prices have jumped since Russia quit a deal to allow safe passage of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea and carried out a string of air strikes on Ukraine's port facilities.
"We'll be for sure making this point and loud and clear," the European Commission official said.
Saudi Arabia has not commented publicly on the weekend talks but Ukrainian and Western officials said the country's decision to host the meeting reflected a desire by Riyadh to play a prominent diplomatic role in efforts to resolve the conflict.
Saudi Arabia, along with Turkey, played a mediation role in a major prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia last September.
A second senior EU official said Saudi Arabia reached "into parts of the world where (Ukraine's) classical allies would not get to as easily".
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is expected to represent the United States at the talks.
"This is still the start of the process," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said on Wednesday. "Remember, there's still active fighting in Ukraine."
Asked about the talks earlier this week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia needed to understand their aims and what would be discussed.
