Europe

Zelenskiy vows to pursue peace diplomacy ‘on our terms’

Ukraine president spoke to German MPs in advance of ‘summit of peace’ in Switzerland

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the Bundestag on Tuesday. Germany is the second biggest donor of military aid to Ukraine. Photograph: Michele Tantussi/Getty Images

Derek Scally in Berlin
Tue Jun 11 2024 - 18:32

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has insisted Kyiv “wants to give diplomacy a chance” but that it would end its war with Russia only “on our terms”.

In advance of high-level political talks in Switzerland at the weekend, Mr Zelenskiy told German MPs on Tuesday that they, above all, should be able to comprehend “why we are fighting so hard against Russia’s attempts to divide us, to divide Ukraine”.

“A divided Europe was never peaceful and a divided Germany was never happy, you know this from your own experience,” he told his Bundestag audience, metres from the route of the former Berlin Wall.

[ Derek Scally: Divisions of old West and East Germany are re-emerging ]

Attracting a standing ovation for his feisty Bundestag premiere, he thanked Germany for its military and humanitarian aid – including, on Tuesday, a third Patriot missile defence system.

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But the Ukrainian president said it was an “illusion” to think that the war – and Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin – could go on forever. After 839 days of war, he said, Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian cities had made his country even more determined to keep fighting.

Almost all MPs from the far-right Alternative für Deutschland and hard left BSW boycotted the speech. The AfD dismissed the Ukrainian leader as a “war and begging president” and said the country needed a “ready-to-negotiate” president. The BSW accused Kyiv of pursing a strategy of “dangerous escalation” with Russia and ignoring recent “signals from Moscow of a ceasefire along the current front line”.

Germany’s liberal Free Democratic Party, part of Berlin’s ruling coalition, suggested the BSW, founded five months ago, had given “Putin a second party in Germany that follows him without reflecting”.

Earlier, at a donor conference in Berlin attended by nearly 2,000 delegates from 60 countries, Mr Zelenskiy accused Russia of using energy as a weapon by destroying most thermal power generation and a third of hydro generation.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the EU had raised nearly €500 million to help repair Ukraine’s energy grid and would provide an additional 1,000 generators and nearly 8,000 solar panels. She also promised backing for equity investments in Ukraine, prompting chancellor Olaf Scholz to tell private investors in attendance that capital now would mean they “get to the forefront” when peace comes.

Both Ms von der Leyen and Mr Scholz reiterated their support for Ukraine’s EU membership hopes.

At the weekend, delegates from 90 countries, not including Russia, will meet on the Bürgenstock hill near the Swiss city of Lucerne.

Switzerland is hosting the conference at the request of Ukraine, which insisted that only countries that respect its sovereignty be allowed attend. The so-called “summit on peace” is expected to discuss nuclear security, shipping and food security – as well as other humanitarian concerns arising from the Ukraine war.

“We have always been open to inviting Russia to the conference,” said Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis, “but Moscow has made it clear several times that it has no interest in participating.”

Other high-level absentees are likely to include crucial countries such as China and Saudi Arabia. After the Swiss gathering, Riyadh is likely to hold a second conference in the coming months – with Russian delegates likely to attend.

Derek Scally

Derek Scally

Derek Scally is an Irish Times journalist based in Berlin

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