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Scholz urges speedier efforts to end Russia's war on Ukraine

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Scholz urges speedier efforts to end Russia's war on Ukraine
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a news conference following a Special European Council summit in Brussels, Belgium, on April 18, 2024. (Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized the urgency of resolving Russia's war against Ukraine, stating that he and President Volodymyr Zelensky agree on the need to include Russia in future peace negotiations.

As Russia's war stretches into its third year, Kyiv has said it aims to invite a Russian representative to the second conference to present a peace plan based on Zelensky's peace formula and international input.

"There will certainly be a further peace conference, and the president and I agree that it must be one with Russia present," Scholz said during an interview with Germany's ZDF public television.

Scholz also stressed the importance of accelerating efforts to end the war: "I believe that now is the moment when we must discuss how we get out of this war situation faster than the current impression is."

This push for diplomatic engagement comes as Scholz faces growing political challenges at home, with recent state elections showing gains for populist parties that oppose military support for Ukraine, adding pressure on his coalition government.

Speaking a day ahead of Ukraine's global peace summit held on June 15-16 in Switzerland, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that as a condition for peace negotiations, Ukraine must fully withdraw from four partially occupied oblasts that Moscow illegally annexed in 2022.

Kyiv rejected this demand and Zelensky continues to advocate for his 10-point peace plan, which calls for the expulsion of all Russian forces from Ukrainian territory and accountability for war crimes.

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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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