Diplomacy

It is now 31 years since I first travelled from London to the South Caucasus to report from what was then Nagorno Karabakh. Since then, I’ve covered almost every dimension of the conflict. From the Azerbaijani POWs and civilian hostages I encountered on my first trip to Karabakh in 1994, through the ethnic Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan struggling to rebuild their lives in Armenia that same year and then from 1999, and the lingering danger of landmines and unexploded ordnance that plagued the seven formerly occupied regions of Azerbaijan surrounding Karabakh throughout the 2000s. They still claim lives today.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Berlin on Wednesday (13 August) to join German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in a video call with other European leaders and US President Donald Trump. The talks, initiated by Merz, are seen as a last-ditch attempt by Europe to influence Friday's meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

European Union leaders have appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump to defend their security interests at a summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday 15 August over the war in Ukraine. EU leaders are doing their best to exert some influence over the summit that they have been sidelined from. It remains unclear whether even Ukraine will take part but EU leaders underlined that “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine.” According to AP, Trump has said that he wants to see whether Putin is serious about ending the war now in its fourth year. In a statement on Tuesday 12 August, EU leaders said that they “welcome the efforts of President Trump towards ending Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” The European Union will make a fresh attempt to rally Trump to Ukraine’s cause on Wednesday at virtual meetings convened by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump did not confirm whether he would take part, but he stated: “I’m going to get everybody’s ideas” before meeting with Putin.