Ukraine wants to end war with Russia 'this year'

FE Team | Published: June 13, 2025 00:43:41

ROME, June 12 (AFP): Ukraine wants to end war with Russia already "this year", its Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said Thursday, reiterating the call to step up pressure on Russia.
"We want to end this war this year," he told Ukraine's European allies at a security conference in Rome, adding that the "diplomacy of appeasement does not work with Russia... the time has come for diplomacy of pressure".
Zelensky hopes to press Trump
on Russia sanctions at G7
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday he hoped to press his US counterpart Donald Trump to step up sanctions on Russia on the sidelines of the upcoming G7 summit.
"I count on having a conversation" with Trump at the G7 summit in Canada starting this weekend, Zelensky said, adding that "this sanctions package is very important... the final decision is still in the White House, it depends on the President of the United States."
German defence
minister visits Kyiv
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, a spokesman in his ministry told AFP, a visit that comes as Russia escalates its bombardments of Ukraine.
The spokesman did not provide details on the visit, which started a day after Russian strikes on Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv killed three people and wounded 60 others.
This was Pistorius's first trip to Ukraine since German Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office. Pistorius last visited Ukraine in January.
On Tuesday, Merz slammed Russian "terror against the civilian population" in Ukraine after Moscow escalated its bombardments.
He said Russia's latest actions were "anything but a proportionate response to the very precise Ukrainian attacks on military airfields and infrastructure in the last week".