Ukraine hints Putin contriving second front as Hamas visits Moscow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that Russia is benefitting from war in the Middle East as senior officials from Hamas arrived in Moscow for talks.

Addressing EU leaders meeting for a summit in Brussels, Zelenskyy said by video link: “We must do everything to prevent an even larger international fire from breaking out in the Middle East. The enemies of freedom are very interested in bringing the free world to the second front.”

He added: “We must clearly see this scenario and counter it — together, of course. The sooner security prevails in the Middle East, the sooner we will restore security here — in Europe.”

Zelenskyy spoke as a delegation from Hamas visited Moscow for talks on the release of the foreign hostages, including Russians, that the group is holding in Gaza, Russian news agencies reported.

Mousa Abu Marzook, a founder and political leader of Hamas who now lives in Qatar, led the delegation that met with the Russian deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov.

Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza could lead to a broader regional conflict. “Our main task is to stop the bloodshed and violence,” he said, “otherwise, further escalation of the crisis is fraught with grave and extremely dangerous and destructive consequences. And not only for the Middle East region. It could spill over far beyond the borders of the Middle East.”

Russia launched its war on Ukraine in February 2022, resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilians and creating millions of Ukrainian refugees who have spread across Europe and further afield.

At their Brussels summit, EU leaders are discussing the twin wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East. The conflicts are testing the limits of the bloc’s foreign policy reach, especially given the problems European leaders are experiencing in aligning their positions on Israel.

“It’s clear that the conflict in the Middle East is casting a bit of a shadow over what’s going on in Ukraine,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said a day before the summit.