The Kremlin responded cautiously yesterday to statements by Ukrainian President Zelensky, who a day earlier openly expressed readiness for talks with Moscow for the first time since spring 2022, mentioning Russia’s presence at an upcoming peace summit. On Monday, Volodymyr Zelensky stated he favored Moscow’s participation in the next summit, following a peace conference for Ukraine held in mid-June in Switzerland. At that time, dozens of world leaders attended the conference, but Russia was not invited.
“The first peace summit was not at all a peace summit, so we certainly need to understand what Mr. Zelensky means by this,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov in an interview with the Zvezda TV channel.
Zelensky previously said that in November, the month of the U.S. presidential elections, he intends to present a “plan” for a “just peace,” after nearly two and a half years of a major conflict resulting in hundreds of thousands of victims. He also expressed his desire for “Russian representatives” to participate in the upcoming peace summit in Ukraine, the date of which has not yet been determined. Nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory remains under Russian occupation, and prospects for a ceasefire are minimal.
However, this is the first time since the failed negotiations in spring 2022 and Russia’s attack on Ukraine on February 24 that Volodymyr Zelensky has floated the idea of talking to Moscow without first demanding Russia’s withdrawal from Ukrainian territory. Ukraine regularly reiterates its desire to regain sovereignty over all occupied territories, including the Crimean Peninsula annexed in 2014.
