Ireland on Tuesday gave more money to Ukraine as negotiations between the United States and Russia for peace in Eastern Europe are continuing in Moscow.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Irish Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin. The minister announced a new financial package that totals 125 million euros, including roughly 100 million directed towards non-lethal military aid that can help take out Russian missiles and drones. Another 25 million euros will go towards energy supplies and maintaining an infrastructure.
The meeting in Ireland follows recently scrutinized peace efforts in Ukraine that critics say provides an uneven advantage in Russia’s favor, evident from a leaked 28-point peace plan that in part would force Ukraine to give up its own territory overtaken by Russian aggression and would also dissuade the joining of NATO.
“Russia is deliberately and cynically targeting energy plants and infrastructure in Ukraine, knowing how difficult winter can be and hoping to weaken the resolve of the Ukrainian people,” Martin said, according to a transcript of the meeting between him and Zelensky. “We are making our contribution to help ensure that Putin does not win.
“We have in addition also, of course, provided a safe haven for Ukrainians who have sought refuge from the war in Ireland.”
The visit of the Ukrainian leader and his wife, First Lady Olena, included the signing of the 2030 Roadmap on the Ireland-Ukraine Partnership, an agreement based on the partnership on the Agreement on Support for Ukraine and Cooperation between Ukraine and Ireland that was signed Sept. 4, 2024, in Kyiv.
The agreement aims to strengthen bilateral relations in areas including cyber resilience, educational cooperation including between universities and technical institutes, and culture.
“We are also both focused on how we can further strengthen economic ties between us, including business-to-business and trade and investment programs,” Martin said.
He and Zelensky were jointly scheduled to attend the inaugural meeting of the Ireland-Ukraine Economic Forum, providing Irish companies the opportunity to interact with Zelensky and discuss trade and economic investment.
Revised Peace Plan
Last week’s leaking of the 28-point peace plan showed that Ukraine and Russia remain at odds on key issues, notably Zelensky’s apprehension regarding Russia keeping Ukrainian territory it has claimed as its own since invading its Eastern European neighbor in February 2022. Zelensky has referred to the maintaining of territorial integrity as the “biggest challenge” in ongoing negotiations.
That plan, devised by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Kremlin official Kirill Dmitriev per reports, included Ukraine being forced to cede regions already claimed by Russia and President Vladimir Putin as their own: Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk. Regions including Kherson and Zaporizhzhia would remain frozen along the existing lines of conflict.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said input remains required from both Russia and Ukraine, adding that “ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas and will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions.”
US Officials in Moscow
The plan has reportedly since been altered as more input has been gained from Kyiv and European allies, and in discussions between Ukrainian and U.S. officials.
Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are in Moscow to discuss the plan that has been whittled down from 28 points of emphasis to now 20 following Ukrainian officials’ meeting with the U.S. president in recent days.
“There are now 20 points that were drafted in Geneva, and were finalized in Florida,” Zelensky said Tuesday in Dublin, according to the Associated Press. “Some things still have to be worked on. From what I’ve seen, America takes serious steps to end the war in one way or another.
“And our mission, I am sure this is our common mission, of everyone in Europe, is to truly and this war and not just make a pause in hostilities. We need decent peace, and for it to truly happen, everyone has to be on the side of peace.”
Russian state news agency Tass published photos and video of Witkoff and Kushner walking out of a restaurant in Moscow. They were joined by Dmitriev prior to eventually meeting with Putin, who according to the Associated Press told gathered media that European influence on the peace plan has provoked “unacceptable” conditions.
“We’re not going to have a war with Europe, I’ve already said,” Putin said. “But if Europe suddenly wants to wage a war with us and starts it, we are ready right away. There can be no doubt about that.”
More than 100,000 Ukrainians have moved to Ireland since the Russia-Ukraine war began nearly four years ago, according to the AP.
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