FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agree that Russia should be involved in a future peace conference aimed at ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. He called for more efforts to resolve the conflict.
An earlier peace conference on June 15-16 in Switzerland ended with 78 countries expressing support for Ukraine’s “territorial integrity,” but otherwise left the way forward unclear. Russia did not participate.
“I believe that this is the moment when we need to discuss how we can get out of this war situation more quickly than the current impression suggests,” Scholz said in an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF that aired on Sunday.
“There will definitely be another peace conference, and the president and I agree that Russia should be there,” Scholz said.
Scholz is facing growing political discontent at home over his government’s support, including money and weapons for Ukraine, after populist parties opposed to arming Ukraine performed well in state elections on September 1 at the expense of parties in his three-party governing coalition. Some members of his Social Democratic Party have also called for a greater emphasis on diplomacy toward Russia.
Zelenskyy presented a ten-point peace formula that calls for the expulsion of all Russian troops from Ukrainian territory and accountability for war crimes.