German Chancellor Scholz Calls For New Efforts To Peace The Russo-Ukrainian War

JAKARTA - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for new efforts to bring peace to Ukraine, saying he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had agreed in recent talks on the need for a new peace conference that would involve Russia.

"I believe that now is the time to discuss how to achieve peace from this war, even at a faster pace," Chancellor Scholz told broadcaster ZDF in an interview on television.

Chancellor Scholz came under pressure at home after the three parties in his centre-left coalition suffered a painful defeat in two regional states elections one week ago, while groups looking for better relations with Moscow won more votes.

Alternative nationalist parties for Germany (AfD) and the new anti-establishment party BSW, which opposes military support for Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion, both have recorded record votes.

Earlier, President Zelensky said in July he intends to prepare a plan in November to allow Kyiv to hold a second international summit on peace in Ukraine, with Russian representatives to attend.

June late, Ukraine hosted delegations from 92 countries at the first summit in Switzerland to advance the blueprint for peace.

Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, was not invited to the forum at the time and considered it impossible.