Kiev admits need to negotiate with Moscow to resolve conflict
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytry Kuleba said it was necessary to listen to both sides' voices to resolve the conflict.
On June 17, TASS news agency reported that Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told reporters at the Swiss Conference on Ukraine that Russia's presence at the negotiating table is necessary to end the conflict in Ukraine.
It is clear that “both sides are needed” to resolve the conflict, he said. “Of course, we understand very well that there will come a time when it will be necessary to negotiate with Russia,” the top diplomat said.
He also acknowledged that Western and Southern countries have different views on how to end the conflict. “Yesterday there were voices from the Southern Hemisphere about the need to make difficult compromises. This is not what we hear from our Western partners,” the Ukrainian foreign minister added.
On June 15-16, Switzerland hosted a conference on Ukraine in the Burgenstock resort. Bern invited more than 160 delegations, including those from the G7, G20 and BRICS countries. Russia was not among those invited.
Russian officials have repeatedly stressed that the Ukraine crisis cannot be resolved without Moscow's participation, and therefore the Swiss conference does not hold much promise.