Czech president believes talks on peace in Ukraine require involvement of Russia and China

Petr Pavel, President of Czechia, considers it necessary to involve Russia and China in the peace initiatives to end the Russo-Ukrainian war in order for these initiatives to be fruitful.

Petr Pavel noted in an interview for ČTK, as cited by IDNES, that he expected certain new shifts in the Russian war against Ukraine at the end of 2024 or at the beginning of 2025. He mentioned elections in a number of important countries, such as the US, as one of the factors, as well as a growing fatigue from the war both in Russia and Ukraine.

Commenting on the statement of Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the plans to engage Russia in the next Peace Summit, Pavel said that it is so far unknown whether that is possible, but it is "necessary and important anyway".

At the same time he stated that the negotiations would make no sense if Moscow keeps acting the way it did before, basically forcing Ukraine to capitulate.

"Yet peaceful negotiations will not be possible without Russia and China at the table", Pavel believes.

He thinks that it will be impossible to make Russia change its behaviour without real pressure from China.

The participants of the Global Peace Summit held in June in Switzerland published a joint communique about the foundations of peace.

Ihor Zhovkva, Deputy Head of the Office of the President, stated that Ukraine was determined to hold the second Peace Summit by the end of 2024.