Defense Minister proposes international working group to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine

Attendees at the fourth meeting of national security advisors regarding the Peace Formula in Davos, Switzerland. Jan. 14, 2024. (Rustem Umerov/Facebook)

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has proposed an international working group on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the minister wrote on Facebook on Jan. 14.

Umerov presented the plan at the fourth meeting of national security advisors regarding the Peace Formula in Davos, Switzerland. He suggested creating a group at the level of Ministers of Defense and National Security Advisors to “jointly work out a mechanism for the withdrawal of (Russian) troops.”

“It’s impossible to talk about restoring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine without the complete withdrawal and disarmament of Russian troops and terrorist organizations from the temporarily occupied territories,” Umerov wrote.

President Volodymyr Zelensky presented the ten-point Ukrainian Peace Formula in 2022, which includes the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory. Currently, 83 countries support the peace plan.

80 countries and one international organization attended the fourth national security advisers’ meeting, an increase from the 66 attendees at the previous meeting, held in Malta.

This is the second large-scale event organized in Switzerland to support Ukraine after the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano in July 2022.

According to the Swiss Foreign Ministry statement, the main goal of the meetings is “to finalize the talks at the level of national security advisers on principles for a lasting and just peace in Ukraine.”