Kiev wants peace talks with Moscow this year – diplomat

Ukraine is still interested in holding a “peace summit” that would involve Russia by the end of this year, Kiev’s envoy in Ankara stated on Wednesday.

Vladimir Zelensky’s office said this week that it has called off the conference planned for November, in favor of a series of “thematic conferences” with Ukraine’s Western backers. According to Ambassador Vasily Bodnar, however, Kiev still wants talks, just not direct ones.

”One of the most important goals of this summit is to reach a fair peace in Ukraine,” Bodnar said at a briefing in the Turkish capital on Wednesday, according to Reuters. “We hope to hold this summit by the end of the year.”

“We are not talking about a format here in which Ukraine and Russia sit across (from) each other and Ukraine listens to Russia’s demands,” Bodnar added. “What we see now is this: the international community, along with Ukraine, will sit and create a list on what steps could be taken for a fair peace in Ukraine, and they will discuss what sort of demands to ask Russia based on that list.”

The envisioned summit would not be “a direct bilateral meeting,” he explained, but a format in which the talks would be held through third parties. Such a format has previously been described as ‘shuttle diplomacy’.

According to Bodnar, Türkiye would be an important participant in the conference, given its experience in mediating conflicts. Ankara has sought to maintain ties with both Moscow and Kiev during the conflict that flared up in February 2022.

A number of countries have offered to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, but without much success. Kiev has continued to insist on Zelensky’s “peace formula,” a ten-point wish list that amounts to Moscow’s de facto surrender.

Russia has dismissed any discussion of the purported formula as futile and pointless. In June, President Vladimir Putin spelled out a set of terms for a ceasefire with Ukraine, which includes the recognition of Russian claims to certain territories, the “denazification” of Kiev, and a legally binding rejection of Ukraine’s membership in NATO.

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