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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday he would present a proposal to Moscow to end the war once the international community agrees. He was speaking at a Ukrainian peace conference in Switzerland attended by more than 90 countries, excluding Russia. TASR informed of this, according to AFP and Reuters.
In his speech, Zelensky told attendees that the two-day summit would lay the foundation for a reconciliation with Russia. “We must decide together what peace means for the world and how to achieve it permanently,” he said. “Then it will be announced to the Russian representatives so that we can arrange a real end to the war at the second peace summit,” he added.
Putin’s proposal
The Ukrainian leader did not say whether he was ready for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Friday, he announced conditions for an end to the conflict. He demanded that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the south and east of the country and abandon its ambitions to join NATO. Kiev quickly rejected the proposal, and Western leaders responded by stressing the need to develop a solution that takes into account Ukraine’s demands.
“He’s not asking for negotiation, he’s asking for surrender,” U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said of Putin’s proposal at Saturday’s summit.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that without “serious negotiations on a plan for a lasting peace … it would only serve to legitimize Russia’s illegal seizure of territory.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed that freezing the conflict in Ukraine at the current stage, where foreign soldiers occupy Ukrainian territory, is not a solution. “It is a recipe for future wars of aggression,” she warned at the conference.
French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that a permanent end to the war cannot include Kiev’s capitulation. “There is an aggressor and a victim,” he told the leaders, adding that it was necessary to expand the range of countries involved in the Ukrainian peace process.
Some criticize sanctions
However, some participants pointed out the need for Russia to participate in the peace process and criticized Western sanctions against Moscow.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said that Kiev must be ready for “difficult compromises” if it wants to end the war. According to him, Riyadh is determined to help end the conflict. Reuters writes that Saudi Arabia is considered one of the main candidates for the next meeting under consideration, which would be a follow-up to the meeting that took place in Switzerland this weekend.
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