Ukraine announces start of peace talks in Saudi Arabia in August

Ukraine announced Monday the start of talks in Saudi Arabia in August, with the intervention of international representatives, which Kiev says are aimed at restoring a "peace formula" according to Ukrainian standards.

The start of the talks was reported by the Ukrainian portal Ukrinform and confirmed by presidential office spokesman Andriy Yermak.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Saudi Arabia planned to host peace talks for Ukraine in early August between Kiev, Western countries and other world powers, but not including Russia.

The meeting will bring together senior officials from up to 30 countries in Jeddah on Aug. 5-6, according to the report. The hope is that these talks could culminate in a peace summit later this year, where international leaders would endorse common principles for resolving the war in Ukraine that, in turn, could serve as the basis for negotiations between Kiev and Moscow that are more favorable to Ukrainians. For Kiev, this formula provides for the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory.

According to the WSJ, the Jeddah meeting would follow up on a June meeting in Copenhagen between representatives of Ukraine, the United States, European countries, Brazil, India, Turkey and South Africa, which was barely reported but was also confirmed by the Ukrainian presidential spokesman.