Ukraine war: ‘A just peace’ needed to end conflict, UN chief tells Putin at ‘new global order’ BRICS summit
The UN secretary general has told Vladimir Putin that “a just peace” is needed to end the Ukraine war.
Appearing alongside Mr Putin at a BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, Antonio Guterres called on the Russian leader to agree a peace deal “in line with the UN Charter, international law and UN General Assembly resolutions”.
He said summit attendees: “Across the board, we need peace. We need peace in Ukraine.”
It comes after President Xi Jinping claimed on Wednesday that China and fellow BRICS member Brazil have put forward a peace plan for the war in Ukraine.
He told Mr Putin and other leaders at the three-day summit that they intend to rally further international support in the hope of bringing fighting there to an end.
Mr Xi said: “We must uphold the three key principles: no expansion of the battlefields, no escalation of hostilities, and no fanning flames and strive for swift de-escalation of the situation.”
The BRIC coalition formed in 2009, bringing together Brazil, Russia, India, and China. South Africa joined the following year, changing the name to BRICS.
It was largely disregarded at first – but it has since grown in both membership and influence with Russia’s war in Ukraine and Iran’s involvement in the wars in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon dominating global geopolitics.
Leaders in Kazan this week. Pic: Reuters
Just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Mr Putin and Mr Xi signed a “no limits” partnership between their two countries.
Beijing, however, has kept largely quiet on the Ukraine war and not tried to use its influence on Moscow to bring it to an end. This week’s claims of a peace plan could result in new impetus for talks to resolve the conflict.
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin attend the BRICS summit in Kazan. Pic Reuters
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi added that his country “supports dialogue and diplomacy, not war”.
Mr Guterres has not visited Russia in over two years and the decision sparked criticism from Ukrainian officials.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote on X ahead of the summit that his trip to Kazan would “only damage the UN’s reputation”.
“This is a wrong choice that does not advance the cause of peace,” it added, also rejecting the China-Brazil plan.
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for Mr Guterres, responded by saying it is “standard practice in attending meetings of organisations with large numbers of important member states, such as the G7 and the G20” – pointing out that BRICS countries represent “half the world’s population”.
Notably, President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, which is a NATO member and hoping to enter the European Union, was also there.
Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi in Kazan. Pic: Reuters
Appearing alongside BRICS members on Thursday, Mr Guterres also called for peace in the conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, and Sudan.
On the Middle East, Mr Xi called for a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza.
Alternative payment system would counter sanctions
In a joint declaration bringing the three days to a close, BRICS members voiced concern about “the disruptive effect of unlawful unilateral coercive measures, including illegal sanctions”.
Mr Putin’s priority for the meeting was discussions of an alternative global payment system that could be used between members – after Russia was cut off from SWIFT at the outbreak of its invasion, due to Western sanctions.
As such, the attendees’ statement talked of a “faster, low-cost, more efficient, transparent, safe and inclusive cross-border payment instruments built upon the principle of minimising trade barriers and non-discriminatory access”.
Mr Putin said it was important as all the BRICS members “share similar aspirations and values and a vision of new democratic global order”.
Such a system would allow member countries to bypass the US dollar, which is currently used for oil transactions and other major international trade.
Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Pic: Reuters
On the sidelines of the summit, Mr Putin also met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
He reiterated the “truly friendly” ties between Russia and Iran that he hopes will be solidified with a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty”, which is due to be signed by the pair on Mr Pezeshkian’s planned trip to Moscow.
A date for that visit has not been decided, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said.
Commenting on the Middle East crisis, Mr Pezeshkian added: “The flames of war continue to rage in the Gaza Strip and
cities of Lebanon, and international institutions, particularly the UN Security Council as a driver of international peace and security, lack the necessary effectiveness to extinguish the fire of this crisis.”
Mr Modi and President Cyril Ramaphosa have chosen to go to the BRICS summit rather than, as leaders of India and South Africa, attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which is also taking place at the same time and is being visited by UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, among others.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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UK aims to build relationship with Syria
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.
Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.
He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.
Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
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Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.
Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.
The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.
Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.
The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.
(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP
Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.
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