By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha held talks Tuesday with his Nordic and Baltic counterparts on the sidelines of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“Justice is one of the key points of the Peace Formula proposed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” Sybiha was quoted in a statement by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry during the meeting.
Expressing that holding Russian officials accountable for their actions in Ukraine is a “prerequisite for achieving a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace,” Sybiha thanked his counterparts for their efforts toward that goal and called for enhanced cooperation.
Sybiha said the volume of military aid provided by Nordic and Baltic countries is among the largest from Kyiv’s partners.
He updated his Nordic and Baltic counterparts about Ukraine’s energy needs ahead of the winter.
“The ministers of the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) assured their readiness to strengthen support for Ukraine’s energy resilience through specific contributions and actions,” said the statement.
The NB8 is a regional cooperation format established in 1992, comprising Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.
The statement said the parties focused on enhancing sanctions against Russia and expanding support for Zelenskyy’s 10-step peace formula, which was laid out at the 2022 G20 summit in Indonesia.
It went on to say that the foreign ministers discussed international legal proceedings against Russia, as well as agreed on the Nordic and Baltic countries’ further involvement in this regard.
“Furthermore, the parties talked through several urgent issues for Ukraine, such as lifting restrictions on the use of long-range weapons against legitimate military targets on Russian territory and Ukraine's accession to the EU and NATO,” it added.
Sybiha also held talks Tuesday with his Azerbaijani, Brazilian and Japanese counterparts.