The two-day meeting of delegates, who are seeking to advance a peace plan, is the third round of these negotiations in recent months.

Ukraine sees this as an opportunity to gain support for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s 10-point peace plan from countries around the world, especially as the conflict in the Middle East threatens to shift the focus away from the inter-Russian war and the Ukrainians.

Russia viewed the initiative as biased and refused to participate in the meetings.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke during the first of two days of closed-door talks between political and national security advisers in which he hopes to gain support for his 10-point plan to end the war.

He later said in a statement on social media that 66 countries were participating in the talks, evidence that his plan was “gradually going global.”

“Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts are bearing fruit as international support for the Ukrainian peace formula grows,” the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, also wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter) before the opening of the session ), where he has a strong international presence.

The first round of talks, which took place in Copenhagen in June, had just 15 participants, rising to 43 in the second round in Jeddah in August and now to 66.

In his speech at the conference, Yermak noted that as more and more states join the development of Zelensky’s plan, “Russia will have to yield to the international community. The country will have to accept common conditions.”

The representative of the Ukrainian presidency then specified that five of the ten points of the plan would be discussed during this weekend’s talks: nuclear security, energy security, food security, release of prisoners of war and deportees and restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

In his speech at the opening of the meeting, Maltese Foreign Minister Ian Borg said the high participation was a “vote of confidence in Malta as a peace mediator”, reiterating the country’s support for Ukraine.

“Although we are a neutral state, we cannot remain silent in the face of injustice, atrocities and abuse of power in this region,” Borg said.

“Malta believes in multilateralism under the auspices of international law and the Charter of the United Nations,” he stressed.

However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova cataloged the talks in Malta as a “blatant anti-Russia event” that “has nothing to do with the search for a peaceful solution.” “It is clear that such meetings do not offer any prospects, they are simply counterproductive,” he added.

China absent

The states or blocs of countries participating in the Malta summit include the United States, the EU and Britain, supporters of Kiev since the first hour after the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Turkey, which offered to mediate between Ukraine and Russia, was also represented. The same happened to South Africa, Brazil and India – all members of the influential BRICS bloc, which includes Russia. South Africa and India did not condemn Russia’s invasion, while Brazil refused to join Western countries in sending weapons to Ukraine or imposing sanctions on Moscow.

China, which insists it is neutral and refuses to criticize the invasion, did not attend, despite its presence in Jeddah in August, according to an EU official.

Organizers hope a joint statement will emerge from the Malta summit after both previous meetings ended without a final statement.