Zelenskyy says Russia 'should' attend second Ukraine summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Russia should be represented at a second summit aiming to secure lasting peace with the Kremlin, after more than two years of conflict.

Dozens of world leaders voiced support for a "just peace" in Ukraine after a high-level summit convened by Zelenskyy last month in Switzerland, to which Russia was not invited.

"I believe that Russian representatives should be at the second summit," Zelenskyy told a press conference in Kyiv on Monday, where he laid out preparatory work for a follow-up summit.

He announced separate meetings on key issues ahead of a second summit, including energy security, to be held in Qatar and on food security in Türkiye, as well as a meeting in Canada in September regarding the humanitarian direction, the exchange of prisoners and the return of children.

The Kremlin previously said that any discussions around ending the conflict that did not include Russia were "absurd" and President Vladimir Putin remains open to dialogue on Ukraine with serious, substantive and productive discussions.

Last week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin was quoted by Russian media RIA as saying that Russia does not accept ultimatums and will not participate in a new summit on Ukraine.

While the specific location for the next summit has not been determined, Galuzin stated that the geographical location is not fundamentally important. "What matters more is the content, which must be extremely clear."

In a similar remark last week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said Russia has never "rejected dialogue" but there must be "an idea of its substance" when asked whether Russia was open to the idea of a peace summit.

(With input from AFP)