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Von der Leyen: "precise" plans for the deployment of European troops in Ukraine
1 September 2025
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Conflict and Peace
Stories related to violent conflicts, diplomatic tensions, and conflict prevention, mediation and resolution.
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UN Security Council meets in an emergency session to discuss Ukraine
30 August 2025
On Friday afternoon (29 August), the United Nations Security Council held an emergency open briefing on Ukraine The meeting was requested by Ukraine in a letter it sent on Thursday (28 August) following large-scale Russian aerial attacks conducted overnight on Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine. Council members Denmark, France, Greece, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Slovenia, and the UK supported the meeting request.
Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenča briefed the Council at the start of the two-hour meeting. Among the participants and speakers was the Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko. Addressing the session, the Head of the EU Delegation to the UN, Ambassador Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, said that the EU objective remains clear: the EU supports an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire. We also welcome the efforts by the US to seek an end to Russia’s war of aggression and to stop the killing. As EU, we contribute to these efforts in order to achieve a just and lasting peace and long-term security for Ukraine and our continent.
I urge all members of this Council to use their influence and maximize pressure on Russia to accept an immediate ceasefire and work towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”
He said that the EU will remain united in providing political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine, as it exercises its inherent right of self-defence. We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and in defence of the UN Charter and international law. I respectfully submit that this Council, without any wavering or any hesitation, do the same, at a time when Russia intensifies its killings and continues to pursue its illegal objectives, instead of peace.”
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Opinion: Brussels summit has given a new momentum to Armenia-Azerbaijan peace prospects
20 April 2022
"In the days since the Brussels summit of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on April 6, diplomatic activity around the peace process between the two countries has intensified. In contrast to the first year after the Second Karabakh War, the role of the EU in this context has grown and provides a viable alternative to the Russia-led track in the negotiations", writes Vasif Huseynov in this op-ed. "Against this backdrop, as agreed in Brussels, Armenia and Azerbaijan have launched the preparatory work for a peace treaty which triggered a bilateral phone conversation between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers - the first time this happened in recent decades. These developments are not welcome by Russia-aligned revanchist forces in Armenia, separatist groups in Azerbaijani Karabakh, or, to some extent, by Russia."
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Charles Michel meets Zelensky in Kyiv and visits Borodyanka
20 April 2022
European Council president Charles Michel, who is currently paying a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, met on Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Later, Zelensky tweeted:
"My valuable friend Charles Michel is in Kyiv today. Sanctions against Russia, defense and financial support for our country, and responses to a survey on compliance with EU criteria have been discussed. I thank for the meaningful meeting and solidarity with the Ukrainian people," said Zelensky.
During the course of the day, Michel also visited the town Borodyanka. He said that the situation in the town was the same as in Bucha and many other Ukrainian towns.
"History will not forget the war crimes that have been committed here. There can be no peace without justice," he said.
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Opinion: Quo Vadis Nagorno-Karabakh?
18 April 2022
Nikol Pashinyan delivered a significant speech to the Armenian parliament last week on the eve of the launch of negotiations on an Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty. In this op-ed, Benyamin Poghosyan says that his comments on the future of Nagorno-Karabakh sent shock waves across society in Armenia and in Nagorno-Karabakh itself. Poghosyan argues that if Russia manages to keep its influence in the post-soviet space after the Ukraine war, it will probably come to an agreement with Azerbaijan and keep its troops in Karabakh after 2025, extending “de - jure Azerbaijan de - facto Russia” status for Nagorno Karabakh beyond 2025, and securing the presence of Armenians in Karabakh. However, if the war in Ukraine makes Russia significantly weaker in the post-soviet space, Azerbaijan may use the peace treaty with Armenia to force Russian troops out of Karabakh successfully. In that case, no international guarantees or promises of Azerbaijan will prevent the rapid exodus of Armenians from Karabakh.
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Germany ponders its future role in the Sahel
15 April 2022
Germany’s minister of foreign affairs Annalena Baerbock is visiting the Sahel ahead of a government decision on extending the Bundeswehr’s mission in the region.
Amidst renewed political instability and terrorist activity in the Sahel, Baerbock must decide whether German troops will continue their commitment to MINUSMA - the UN peacekeeping mission in the region – and the EUTM, the European Union Training Mission. 300 German soldiers participate in the EUTM mission in Mali, while approximately 1000 soldiers are stationed there as part of MINUSMA. However, beyond the terrorist threat in the region, which has already caused 2.1 million internal displacements in the past 8 years according to the UN, it is the war in Ukraine which could have the most direct repercussions in West Africa. Ukraine, the world’s fifth-largest exporter of wheat, is currently incapable of delivering wheat flour to the Sahel region, causing food insecurity for millions of people.
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Pashinyan: "The peace agenda has no alternative for us, despite all the difficulties and hardships"
14 April 2022
In a historic speech in front of parliament, Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan on Wednesday (13 April) analysed the options in front of Armenia as it prepares to enter into negotiations with Azerbaijan on the signing of a peace agreement.
In his speech Pashinyan spoke at length and in detail about the dilemmas he faced before the 44 day Karabakh war as to whether or not to make concessions and return territories to Azerbaijan. Pashinyan admitted that his mistake was not to recognise the inevitability of doing so, and to having, like previous Armenian leaders, succumbed to the Armenian narrative of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh. In his speech Pashinyan hinted that Armenia may now be ready to recognise the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan as had been requested by Azerbaijan as a precondition for starting the negotiations on a peace treaty, saying that de jure it had done so in 1992.
EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Toivo Klaar, in a tweet described the speech of the Armenian prime minister as "forward looking". He added that "many challenges remain on the road to a comprehensive settlement but it is important to move forward". Klaar added that Armenia has the EU's support in the search for just peace.
