The Ramstein summit, an international summit on Ukraine where Volodymyr Zelenskyy was going to present a “victory plan” to western leaders, has been formally postponed.
Organisers said that the Saturday, October 12, 2024, meeting of about 20 world leaders at the US Ramstein airbase in Germany would be rescheduled.
This comes a day after US President, Joe Biden said that he had to stay at home to respond to Hurricane Milton’s landfall in Florida.
German officials also promised that another leaders’ meeting to discuss Ukraine would be held soon, though it is not clear if it will happen before the US presidential election in November, which pits military aid sceptic Donald Trump against a more supportive Kamala Harris.
Steffen Hebestreit, a spokesperson for the German government, said, “It is true that the national security advisers are in close contact with each other and are also coordinating closely on the issue of Ukraine … there should be a face-to-face meeting soon and an exchange of views.”
The Ramstein summit was to be a centrepiece of a four-day trip by Biden to Germany, where Zelenskyy was to lobby to use long-range missiles inside Russia and to be given more air defence systems, in a fresh attempt to fend off Moscow’s aggression.
Biden had planned to be in Germany from Thursday to Sunday, the first time he would have visited the country during his presidency. It was to have been followed by a trip to Angola to fulfil a promise he made to go to Africa while he led the US.
Both trips have now been postponed, the White House said, and its spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged that there was little time remaining in Biden’s presidency to reschedule. “Three months is not a long time. As you know, that’s going to fly by. That’s going to fly by,” she said.
The summit was also an opportunity for Ukraine to present proposals to bring a halt to the fighting – though it is unclear how that can be achieved.
Russia is continuing to gain ground gradually in eastern Ukraine, and the Kremlin is hoping that if Trump wins, billions of military support will be stopped.
A German official said that the purpose of the Ramstein summit was to show long-term support for Ukraine, though concerns linger about how far that would endure if Donald Trump wins next month’s US presidential election.
There had also been speculation that the meeting would discuss concrete steps on how Ukraine could eventually become a member of NATO, but any extra commitments were not expected to amount to immediate membership and direct military support.
Those due to attend the summit included Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister, and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, but once Biden said he could not go, their presence was in doubt.
Poland’s President, Andrzej Duda, pulled out earlier on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, before the postponement was announced.
Zelenskyy To Meet Scholz
Meanwhile, Ukrainian sources said that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would travel to meet the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in Berlin on Friday, October 11, 2024.
Zelenskyy is expected to meet Scholz first and then President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Zelenskyy will potentially go on to visit other leaders as part of what sources described as a “European tour.”
The Ukrainian leader has stepped up efforts to rally international backing amid doubts about future US support after the November presidential election.
Also on Wednesday, Zelenskyy accused Russia of avoiding a diplomatic solution to the conflict and sought support from southeastern European countries at a summit in Croatia.
“Russia has avoided diplomacy. That is why, in Ukraine, we created an action plan to bridge the gap between the current situation and a successful peace summit. This is our strategy for victory. It’s a plan for dependable stability in each of your countries.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
According to Zelenskyy, once the plan is fully implemented, Russia will lose its ability to threaten Ukraine and Europe as a whole.
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