Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine and Russia need “strong mediators” to oversee future peace talks, and suggests the US “don’t appear” to be the ones capable of taking on the task.
In an interview with Hungarian outlet Valasz Online released today, Ukraine’s president said Russia was effectively stalling the peace process during the last round of direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow on 2 June.
“We want to end the war, but this requires the will of both parties. If the other party is not ready for this, it will always come up with something.
“They even told our delegation: we know that our memorandum is an ultimatum, and you will not accept it. Thus, the question is not the quality of the Istanbul format, but what to do about the Russians’ lies.
“That is why we need strong mediators: so that Russians cannot back out of the agreements reached in the negotiations.
“The United States does not appear to be a strong mediator at the moment: the Russians told them not to be at the table, and they simply walked away. Why? Because of their soft policy towards Russia.”