German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Russia should take part in the next peace conference dedicated to the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. According to him, this decision was agreed upon with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Scholz stressed that the time has come to speed up the process of exiting the military confrontation and move on to discussing peace. The Chancellor said this in an interview with the German television channel ZDF.

Scholz noted that he sees the need for active steps to resolve the conflict and considers Russia's participation in such discussions critical to achieving sustainable peace. However, the Chancellor did not name a specific date for the second "peace summit." The first such conference was held in June 2024 in Switzerland, where representatives of 91 countries and eight international organizations discussed ways to resolve the conflict peacefully. Russia was not invited at the time, which caused a lot of controversy in diplomatic circles.

The Chancellor also added that at the current stage it is important not to miss the opportunity for political dialogue in order to stop the fighting and minimize the damage that the conflict is causing to both sides. Despite the difficult situation on the front, Scholz is convinced that there are prospects for negotiations and that this requires the involvement of all parties, including Russia.