The war in Gaza has undermined Ukraine's hopes of holding a peace summit bringing together world leaders in the coming months, according to what Western diplomats told the Wall Street Journal, noting that Ukrainian efforts to do so have begun to lose momentum, as a result of growing tensions in the Middle East.

Dozens of countries, including India, South Africa, Brazil and other major powers that were neutral regarding the war between Ukraine and Russia, sought for several months to focus on some basic principles, such as the sovereignty of states over their territories, which would have formed the basis for peace talks.

But the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has caused new divisions between the United States, other Western countries, some Arab powers, and developing world countries that Ukraine had hoped to bring to its side.

After meetings in Denmark, Saudi Arabia and Malta this year, Ukrainian and European officials hoped to hold a leaders' summit before the end of the year. But it seems that this is no longer likely now, according to what diplomats told the American newspaper.

The Middle East crisis has shifted international attention away from Ukraine, which has captured the attention of policymakers who are now focused on many other challenges, such as releasing hostages held by Hamas, delivering aid to civilians in Gaza, and preventing the escalation and expansion of the conflict in the region.

Ukraine and its supporters hoped to enlist neutral powers, including Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and perhaps China, in upholding the principles of sovereignty and political independence of states and avoiding the use of force to resolve disputes.

Russia has been excluded from this process. Moscow said it is open to peace negotiations if they are based on Ukraine first ceding areas of territory that the Kremlin claims to have annexed, while Kiev insists on the necessity of Russia withdrawing from its territory.

It is noteworthy that the momentum of the Ukrainian talks began in the summer, and the meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in August, included more than 40 countries and organizations to hold talks at a high official level, including China, which sent its peace envoy, and the United States, whose national security advisor attended, Jake Sullivan.

Ukraine and Saudi Arabia established a series of working groups on the international impact of the war, and senior Ukrainian officials, led by the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, began regular meetings on the peace track with ambassadors to Kiev.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after the Jeddah meeting in an interview with German media that the talks "increase pressure on Russia to realize that it has taken the wrong path and that it must withdraw its forces and make peace possible."

Even before the war broke out between Israel and Hamas, momentum was flagging. After his arrival in Jeddah, the Chinese ambassador to Kiev stopped attending the weekly meetings chaired by Yermak, according to what three diplomats residing in Kiev told the American newspaper.

Ukraine has struggled to find a large, neutral country to host the talks, with Zelensky pressing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the UN General Assembly in September to host the event.

South African officials later said this was “logistically impossible,” knowing that weeks earlier, South Africa had hosted a BRICS summit in the presence of the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, and the Indian Prime Minister. Narendra Modi and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

From Alhurra