The Capitals: Paris and Doha set frame for Ramadan Gaza truce, and more

Russia's full-fledged offensiveagainst Ukraine entered its third year this week. Russian forces continued to slowly inch forward as the leaders of Italy, Canada, Belgium, and the European Union met in Ukraine's capital Kyiv while the demonstrators in London, Vienna,Dublin, Athens, Stockholm, and the rest of Europe marched in support of Ukraine's war effort in the face of the Russian offensive.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo speak to each other after a joint press conference following their meeting in Kyiv on February 24, 2024, on the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine | AFP

Ukraine's18 per cent internationally recognised territory is being controlled from Moscow.

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Two years into its full-scale offensive, Russia has captured a little less than a fifth of Ukraine's internationally-recognised territories | AFP

Let's put into context how huge the Russian losses in the over two-year-long war have been so far.With 45,000 Russians reportedly killed in action, Moscow has lost three times the Soviet Army's losses during its decade-long operations in Afghanistan.President Volodymyr Zelensky said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the war, in a rare official statement on military losses sustained to date in the conflict.

Paris, France

The intelligence chiefs of Israel, Egypt, and the United States met in the French capital this week. The meetingrevived the hopes for a second truce in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war that began on October 7 last year when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killed around 1,200 people, and took nearly 234 people captive. In the blockaded Palestinian enclave of Gaza, the retaliatory state of war by Israel has killed nearly 30,000 people with about 85 per cent of infrastructure completely or partially destroyed.

In Paris, the secretive talks for a truce have yielded preliminary results. The de-facto leaders of Gaza and Israeli negotiators have "come to an understanding" and a basic "outline" for a truce has been agreed upon.

The Capitals reported in November 2023 about the vital role of Qatar in brokeringpeace between various warring sides in a volatile West Asia.

So on Sunday (Feb 25, 2024), from Paris, the truce talks resumed in the Qatari capital Doha.

Later over the weekend,negotiations for the truce resumed in Qatar's capital Doha between "experts from Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Israel", as well as Hamas representatives, state-linked Egyptian media reported.

The talks are a "continuation of what was discussed in Paris" and "will be followed by meetings in Cairo," reported Al-Qahera News.

A previous week-long truce in November saw more than 100 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners freed, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's shuttle diplomacy, as well as Doha and Cairo, playing vital roles.

Israeli media has reported that a truce comprising the exchange of hostages with Palestinian securityprisoners in Israelis likely to materialise before March 10, before the commencement of the Ramadan month.

London, United Kingdom

The head of the British Army, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders suggested that the country's under-funded army is at risk of becoming a "domestically-focused land force".

In a leaked letter, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders suggested that the Army’s ability to mount overseas campaigns was in jeopardy, meaning that the British Army could be at risk of failing to fulfil its NATO commitments.

The British Chief of the General Staff wrote: "For some time, we have asset-sweated the military, compounded by a mismatch between ambition and resource that has been robustly addressed by both National Audit Office and Defence Select Committee reporting."

"Our strategic resilience is at risk, and we might inadvertently reduce ourselves to a smaller, static and domestically-focused land force. I am not sure that this is either the Army the nation needs, or the one that policymakers want."

The British Army chief's commentscome as the UK and the US continued with their campaign of strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen in a bid to "disrupt and degrade" the militia’s capabilities that have affected the Red Sea shipping route in recent weeks.

Cairo, Egypt

In another sign of progress through regional cooperation, Egypt on Friday (Feb 23) announced a deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that would bring $35 billion of investments to the indebted country over the next two months.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that thedevelopment of the Ras El Hekma peninsula could eventually attract as much as $150 billion in investments.

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The deal has been signed with ADQ, the smallest of Abu Dhabi's three main sovereign investment funds.

The investment inflows wouldboost Egypt's crisis-stricken economy amid pressures linked to the war in Gaza and efforts forexpansion of its current IMF support programme.