While the two-day meeting of Ukraine's peace negotiations with the presence of officials from more than thirty countries is underway in Jeddah, and in fact, representatives from all over the world gathered in an effort to formulate a peace plan, the preparations of which were prepared at the meeting held two months ago in Denmark and Sullivan's two trips to Saudi Arabia. In this meeting, the representatives of the countries with capital and power have gathered and among the invitees, Brazil, India, Turkey, Japan, and the United States are present, as well as China’s representative of the president, which has been trying for a long time for its peace plan is present in Eurasia. Of course, Ukraine is present in this meeting, but Russia has not been invited. In an interview about peace plans, the Russian Foreign Minister said that any peace plan should include the rights of the Russian minority in eastern Ukraine.
By holding a peace meeting for Ukraine, Saudi Arabia seeks to restore its former image, and in the first step, the main goal of the officials is to agree on a joint statement at the end of the Jeddah meeting, which will pave the way for holding a large peace meeting, which will probably be held in the fall. Riyadh has maintained its relationship with the parties since the beginning of the conflict and has provided financial assistance of 400 million dollars to Ukraine.
Therefore, the Ukrainian authorities have welcomed Saudi Arabia's decision to host this meeting and are trying to promote their 10-Article peace plan in this meeting, and Riyadh has always tried to play the role of mediator between the parties. On the one hand, it mediated for the return of Ukrainian children from Russia, and on the other hand, in the middle of direct contacts with Moscow, it decided to reduce oil production in OPEC Plus.
The fact is that the war of attrition with Western aid to Ukraine continues, and the Pentagon has announced that the total amount of US military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of Joe Biden's administration has exceeded 42 billion dollars. The document published in this military institution states: "Since the beginning of the Biden administration, the United States has announced a total of 42 billion dollars in security support for Ukraine." Earlier, the Pentagon announced the allocation of a new package of military aid to Ukraine worth 500 million dollars. In this package, as this organization announced, the necessary weapons to support the counter-attack operations of Ukraine and to strengthen anti-aircraft defense, as well as armored equipment, anti-tank weapons and ammunition are provided. In response to Western aid, Russia had already sent an official note with regard to sending weapons to NATO member states. Sergey Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, emphasized that any shipment containing weapons for Ukraine will become a legal target for Russia. Dmitry Peskov, the media secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, has also announced that the Western countries that are pumping weapons to Ukraine will not help the success of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and will have a negative impact on this issue.
As the Ministry of Defense of Russian Federation announced, significant losses and casualties have been inflicted on Ukraine as follows:
In total, 458 aircraft, 245 helicopters, 5,496 drones, 428 air defense missile systems, 11,113 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,142 MLRS-equipped combat vehicles, 5,746 field artillery pieces, etc. have been destroyed during special military operations.
Further, since the beginning of the so-called counter-offensive in June and July, the casualties of combat operations have been more than forty-three thousand soldiers, which do not include the foreign wounded and mercenaries who have been transferred to hospitals in Ukraine and abroad, as well as Soldiers killed by long-range precision weapon attacks in rear areas. Also, more than 4,900 units of AFU weapons, including 26 planes, 9 helicopters, 1,831 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, including 25 German-made Leopard tanks, seven French AMX wheeled tanks, and 21 American tanks have been destroyed in the contact line. In addition, the enemy's losses included 747 cannons and field mortars, including 76 M777 artillery systems made by the United States, as well as 84 self-propelled artillery systems from Poland, America, France, and Germany. Sputnik quoting the French publication "Valeurs Actuelles" wrote that the number of dead Ukrainian soldiers is unpleasant information for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "The death toll remains President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's worst-kept secret, although judging by all external data, there is no doubt that the number of dead and injured has risen sharply since the end of the summer," wrote Meriadek Raffery in an article.
On the other hand, according to the official statement of the Ukrainian side, the losses and casualties of the Russian army are as follows:
In total, 315 aircraft, 311 helicopters, 5506 drones, 459 air defense missile systems, 4025 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 8187 MLRS-equipped combat vehicles, 4795 field artillery devices, 18 warships; 1350 missiles; 7,275 military vehicles were destroyed and 245,700 individuals were killed and wounded. Since the beginning of the so-called counter-offensive in June and July, the casualties of combat operations have been more than thirty thousand soldiers. This figure does not include the wounded who were taken to hospitals, as well as soldiers killed as a result of long-range precision weapons attacks in rear areas.
However, the peaceful negotiations in Jeddah and the destructive battle in the limited geography of eastern Ukraine continue, and it is not known when the power of wisdom will overcome the power of pride and ignorance, so that the world and the Eurasian region can be get rid of this disturbance that it may turn into a world war at any time. For the time being, although the campaign has become hard and exhausting, but in the future, from dimension of soft power, pressure on Moscow will increase, especially since some economic effects of the war are also visible in the management affairs and economic life of Russia, of course, it must be acknowledged that Ukraine has lost everything in terms of economic and peace.
Ali Beman Ighbali Zarch, Senior expert in Eurasia
(The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the IPIS)