President Zelensky Says US, China and EU Can Mediate Ukraine Conflict

PM Orban with President Zelensky. (Twitter/@ZelenskyyUa)

JAKARTA - President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban could not mediate between Russia and Ukraine to end their 28-month-old war, a task he said could only be done by world powers such as China, the United States, or the European Union.

Orban visited Kyiv and Moscow for talks last week, before meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, describing his unexpected trip to Beijing as the third part of a "peace mission".

As world leaders prepared for a NATO summit starting on Tuesday in Washington, Ukraine's Zelensky said only powerful economies or countries with much stronger armed forces than Russia could manage the mediation task.

"Are there many such countries around the world? Not many. I am sure that the United States, and China are such countries. And the EU, not one country, but the entire EU. This can really be a mediation mission," President Zelensky told a news conference, reported by Reuters on July 8.

President Zelensky said PM Orban’s talks with President Putin, which have drawn rebukes within the European Union, were not coordinated with Kyiv.

“Even if (Putin) meets with a particular country, this does not mean that he wants to end the war,” he said.

Kyiv remains open to suggestions from other countries on how to shape the path to peace, but those proposals must be in line with Ukraine’s vision, in particular the 10-point peace plan, President Zelensky added.

Ukraine hopes to hold a second international summit to consider its proposals for peace later this year. China, which has close ties with Moscow, did not attend the first meeting in June.

Separately, China has promoted a six-point peace plan it issued with Brazil in May, proposing an international peace conference "at an appropriate time" and calling for equal participation by Ukraine and Russia.