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14 September 2024

EU battle with China leaves no space for Ukraine

William Nattrass

The sands are shifting in European perceptions of the need for peace in Ukraine. In a TV interview on Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged intensified effort to end the war through negotiations, saying: “I believe now is the moment when we must discuss how we get out of this war situation faster.”

Significantly, Scholz underlined his belief that Russia must be present at future peace discussions. Having met with Volodymyr Zelensky last Friday in Germany, Scholz asserted that “there will certainly be a further peace conference,” with the Ukrainian President supposedly in agreement that “it must be one with Russia present.”

That a key donor of military aid to Ukraine should call for Russian involvement in peace discussions marks a major shift from the Ukraine Peace Summit held in Switzerland earlier this summer, to which Russia was not invited. It’s a notable — some might say necessary — evolution of the West’s mantra to date: “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

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