Zelenskyy and Putin should negotiate without intermediaries, Polish foreign minister says
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski believes that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on ending the war should take place without intermediaries.
Source: Sikorski in an interview with CBS News, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Sikorski believes any future negotiations should take place directly between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, without third-party mediation.
Quote: "I'm personally of the view that it's better to allow Russia and Ukraine to negotiate directly. They negotiate over exchanges of bodies of fallen soldiers, of POWs. And there are issues that we don't want to be pressing them to do."
More details: The last time representatives of Russia and Ukraine met face to face was in February in the United Arab Emirates during trilateral summits mediated by the US.
"We Europeans are not neutral between the two sides. We are on the side of the victim of aggression. And Russia is the aggressor," Sikorski stressed.
He also acknowledged that progress in peace negotiations depends on Putin.
"We think that if Putin is ready for a ceasefire, which has been offered by Ukraine, or for a peace deal, he will find Zelensky's number," the Polish minister concluded.
Background:
- Zelenskyy said he had offered to meet Putin at the G7 summit in France to discuss ending the war, but Russia was "not ready to speak".
- On 4 June, the Ukrainian president wrote a letter to the Kremlin ruler proposing a personal bilateral meeting to end the war, and said that Europe and the US need to be involved in the negotiations.
- US President Donald Trump said he supports the possibility of a bilateral meeting between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia.
- Meanwhile, the Kremlin ruler said he had looked at Zelenskyy's open letter and "sees no point in meeting" Zelenskyy.
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