Front line should be starting point for negotiations with russia – Zelenskyy

The current front line should be the basis for peace talks with the aggressor country, russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this at a joint briefing with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Sunday, August 17.

Zelenskyy stressed that it is impossible to work on a peace agreement under the pressure of weapons, so it is necessary to achieve a ceasefire from russia. According to him, Ukraine does not yet know all the demands made by putin at the meeting with Trump, and it will take a lot of time to consider them.

"Therefore, it is necessary to cease fire and work quickly on the final agreement. We will talk about this in Washington. Putin does not want to stop the killings, but he must do it. Second, we need real negotiations, and this means that they can start where the front line is now. The contact line is the best line for talks," the President of Ukraine emphasized.

European leaders support this position of Ukraine, Zelenskyy stressed.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on August 18, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will participate in the meeting of US President Donald Trump with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in Washington.

On August 17, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US may not create the conditions to end the war in Ukraine.

As we will recall, Reuters published a list of putin's demands for resolving the war in Ukraine.