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In the interview, Zelensky said that work had already started, with instructions sent to his government and diplomatic team, and highlighted two points that he believes could bring the Russian-Ukrainian war to an end.
“The first is the strengthening of the Ukrainian army, mainly with the support of the United States. The second is international diplomatic pressure on Russia,” the Ukrainian president said.
Kyiv is open to a detailed dialogue with the countries concerned regarding territorial integrity and other issues, Zelensky said, clarifying that he could not respond to calls for a ceasefire as long as Russia continued to occupy Ukraine.
Zelensky earlier told the BBC’s British public media that if Russia is willing to engage in real negotiations, the Ukrainian leader will be willing to open talks on a peace deal to end the war. This is a major shift, given that he had previously banned talks with Putin by law.
The Ukrainian head of state’s announcement suggested that he has taken a somewhat more lenient stance than his previous peace plan, certainly in the light of developments in the U.S. presidential election campaign. Zelensky recently had a call with former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate most polls predict will be reelected president.
Ukraine plans to organize a second peace summit in the run-up to the U.S. presidential elections in November. However, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said that Russia would not attend this summit.
The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected Ukraine’s peace aspirations and its 10-point formula, which the Russians have called irrelevant and an ultimatum.