Ukraine says it wants 'real peace, not appeasement' with Russia

Ukraine wants "real peace, not appeasement" with Russia, its foreign minister said on Thursday at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). 

"We still remember the names of those who betrayed future generations in Munich. This should never be repeated again. Principles must be untouchable, and we need real peace, not appeasement," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told the OSCE's annual Ministerial Council.

He was referring to a 1938 agreement with Nazi Germany in which Britain, France and Italy agreed to Hitler's annexation of the Sudetenland in what was then Czechoslovakia.

"Europe had too many unfair peace deals in the past. All of them only led to new catastrophes," Sybiha said while thanking the United States for advancing peace efforts and pledging that Ukraine would "use every opportunity to try to end this war."

The path ahead for peace talks is currently unclear as high-level talks between Russia and the United States over the Ukraine crisis ended on Tuesday without a breakthrough. Kremlin said that Tuesday's meeting featured discussions on multiple versions of possible settlement frameworks, but no compromise had been reached.

The United States proposed a 28-point plan for Russia and Ukraine to reach a peace deal, but it was criticized by Ukraine and European governments as overly favorable to Russia. Representatives of the United States, Ukraine and European countries met in Geneva on November 23, where the plan was revised and reduced to 19 points.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly rejected Europe's revisions to the peace plan. Putin said on Tuesday that amendments proposed by European governments to the U.S.-drafted peace plan were intended to obstruct negotiations and were "unacceptable" to Russia.

The territorial issue appears the biggest hurdle to reaching a compromise. Putin stated on Wednesday that, "Either we liberate these territories by force of arms or Ukrainian troops will leave these territories and stop fighting there." 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday his team was preparing for meetings in the United States and that dialogue with Trump's representatives will continue.

As peace talks continue, fighting on the ground persists.

Ukraine's military said late on Thursday its forces had struck a large chemical plant in Stavropol region in southern Russia, triggering a fire. The military's General Staff, writing on Telegram, said the Nevinnomyssky Azot plant was hit overnight on Thursday and added the facility produced components for explosives. It described it as one of the largest such plants in Russia. There was no immediate reaction from Russian officials.

Russia has sharply increased its attacks on Ukraine's energy and utilities sector. Ukraine's state oil and gas firm Naftogaz said on Thursday that a heat and power plant in the southern city of Kherson had been "almost completely destroyed." Separately, Ukrainian energy company DTEK said on Thursday that Russia attacked its energy facility in the southern Odesa region overnight, leaving 51,800 households without power.

(With input from agencies)