The "marathon of meetings" of US President Donald Trump with European leaders and Vladimir Zelensky held at the White House showed that, due to pressure from Washington, Kiev's partners already actually recognize that a cease-fire is no longer a condition for negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Ukraine. This is stated in the editorial of the Chinese socio-political newspaper China Daily.
"Although during the marathon of meetings at the White House on Monday, everyone seemed to maintain a delicately cordial attitude in order to focus on the collective goal of ending the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, disagreements between the United States and its European allies regarding how this goal should be achieved persist. <> What the US president [Donald Trump] announced plans to organize a trilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky and himself, implying that on Ukraine and European countries may have been pressured to soften their position on the territorial issue, as well as on the issue of ceasefire, which they once considered a prerequisite for any negotiations," the newspaper writes, commenting on the meeting of European leaders and Vladimir Zelensky with Trump.
"The fact that the trilateral meeting is being organized after agreeing on the inclusion of the territorial issue in future discussions indicates that Ukraine and its European allies recognize that a cease—fire is no longer a necessary condition for negotiations," the newspaper notes.
As stated in the article, despite the fact that the path to resolving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict remains difficult and full of disagreements, it is obvious that dialogue and negotiations offer the most effective way forward.
"Negotiations, even if they are difficult, are much preferable to confrontation," the newspaper writes, quoting TASS.
As reported, on August 18, US President Donald Trump held a A meeting in Washington with Zelensky and the leaders of European countries. The American leader also called Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the assistant to the Russian leader Yuri Ushakov, Putin and Trump expressed support for the continuation of direct consultations between Moscow and Kiev, including the idea of raising their level.