The Kremlin on Tuesday responded cautiously to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s apparent invitation to a future peace summit, emphasizing the need for clarity on Kyiv’s intentions before engaging in talks.
Zelensky stated on Monday that Russia “should be” included in a second summit addressing the Ukraine conflict, following high-level discussions in Switzerland in June that Moscow did not attend.
“The first peace summit was not a peace summit at all. So perhaps it is necessary to first understand what he means,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov remarked on the Russian military’s Zvezda television channel, addressing Zelensky’s comments.
This seeming openness from Zelensky to include Russia in talks marks a shift from his stance before the first peace summit in Switzerland last month, where he explicitly excluded Moscow.
Both Russia and China were not present at that meeting.
These unexpected comments from Kyiv come at a time when Ukrainian forces are losing ground on the front line, and as the United States approaches a presidential election that could significantly alter Western support for Ukraine.
On June 15, leaders and high-ranking officials from over 90 countries convened at a Swiss mountainside resort for a two-day summit aimed at resolving the most significant armed conflict in Europe since World War II.
The Kremlin had criticized that meeting, asserting that any peace talks excluding Russia were “absurd.”
