Between Russia and Ukraine, many countries have attempted to mediate the conflict, sometimes for their own interests and sometimes for other ambitions. This time, Germany is taking center stage. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has stated in an interview that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agree that Russia should be included in an upcoming peace conference aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Scholz also called for increased efforts to resolve the conflict. “I believe now is the time when we need to discuss how to exit this war situation sooner than currently anticipated,” Scholz said in an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF. “Certainly, there will be another peace conference, and President Zelenskyy and I agree that it should include Russia,” he added. A previous international peace conference in Switzerland in June ended with 78 countries expressing support for Ukraine’s “territorial integrity,” but it left the way forward unclear.
Germany’s Negotiations
Scholz faces increasing political dissatisfaction at home over his government’s support for Ukraine, including funding and arms, as populist parties opposed to arming Kyiv performed well in the September 1 state elections, at the expense of his three-party coalition government. Some members of his Social Democratic Party have also called for a greater emphasis on diplomacy with Russia. Scholz’s comments come as support for Germany’s military aid to Ukraine has waned in some regions, as he admitted. Regional elections last week in eastern Germany highlighted this, with parties opposing arms supplies to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia receiving nearly half of all votes in both states. Scholz, whose party won less than 10% of the votes in both elections, acknowledged on Sunday that “election results are also related to some citizens disagreeing with our support for Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s Response
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for the support received at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Ramstein on Friday. He urged attendees to expedite the delivery of military equipment to the battlefield and also pressed for permission to use those weapons to strike deeper targets within Russia. At that meeting, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that the Biden administration would unveil another $250 million (225 million euros) in military aid. The United Kingdom stated it would send a package of 650 air defense missiles, while Germany promised an additional 12 self-propelled howitzers.
Russian Refusal
The Russian government sees no basis for peace talks with Ukraine at this time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. Peskov, spokesperson for President Vladimir Putin, categorically rejected German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s suggestion during an interview on Sunday that a negotiated peace could end the conflict. “As for the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, tangible contours have still not appeared,” Peskov said in Moscow. Russia has heard discussions and statements about negotiations from various European leaders, “but we are not hearing anything from the country that leads this process, which leads the collective West,” Peskov said, referring to the United States. All of Moscow’s demands to end the war so far have boiled down to Ukraine ceding territory—and also giving Russia significant control over the rest of Ukraine.
