Saudi Arabia set to host Ukraine peace talks on 5-6 August

Saudi Arabia is set to host peace talks among Western countries, Ukraine and key developing countries, including India and Brazil, early next month, as Europe and Washington intensify efforts to consolidate international support for Ukraine's peace demands.

- Laurence Norman & Stephen Kalin

According to diplomats involved in the discussion, the meeting would bring senior officials from up to 30 countries to Jeddah on Aug. 5 and 6. It comes amid a growing battle between the Kremlin and Ukraine's Western backers to win support from major developing countries, many of which have been neutral over the Ukraine war.

Ukraine and Western officials hope the efforts could culminate in a peace summit later this year where global leaders would sign up to shared principles for resolving the war. They hope that those principles could frame future peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to Kyiv's advantage.

A summit this year, however, wouldn't include Russia, which has shunned any serious talk of peace and has held on to maximalist demands for any settlement, including annexation of territory its forces don't currently control.

It comes as the war appears to have reached a stalemate, with neither side able to gain meaningful territory in recent months.