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EU nixes Zelensky’s invitation to summit after Latin America objects — portal

The heads of Central and Latin American countries, who are to travel to Brussels on July 17-18, insisted on removing all paragraphs on support for Ukraine from the draft final declaration of the event

BRUSSELS, July 6. /TASS/. The leaders of 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations have persuaded the European Union to cancel Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s invitation to the upcoming EU-CELAC Summit of Heads of State and Government, the Brussels-based EURACTIV news portal reported on Thursday citing unnamed diplomatic sources.

Besides, the heads of Central and Latin American countries, who are to travel to Brussels on July 17-18, insisted on removing all paragraphs on support for Ukraine from the draft final declaration of the event.

On the eve of the summit, CELAC leaders submitted their counter-proposal to the draft text which they obtained from Brussels on July 4, the portal said. According to one of its sources, they "deleted everything about Ukraine."

Spain, which presides over the Council of the European Union, has already sent an invitation to Zelensky to participate, but it "was canceled after pushback from Latin American leaders," EURACTIV said.

According to four diplomatic sources interviewed by the portal, the final draft of the document will be discussed by EU ambassadors "in an effort to salvage a draft communique." Per the report, there is a chance that no final document will be adopted at the summit.

Earlier, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged to work with every single country in the world to demand that they clearly articulate their stance regarding Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as well as the rise of China. Moreover, during their latest meeting on June 29-30, EU leaders tasked the External Action Service with engaging in "sanctions diplomacy" to make all countries support the union’s anti-Russian sanctions.

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