Zelensky wants U.S. to ‘help’ Russia end war in eastern Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelensky supports the expansion of the Normandy format or the creation of another platform for resolving the situation in eastern Ukraine with the involvement of powerful states.

However, the number of formats does not affect their quality, Russia must end the war, Zelensky said during a joint press conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda in Vilnius, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"If we see deceleration in the Normandy format, I say frankly about this, I think that there is a deceleration. Therefore, I want countries – strong countries, powerful geopolitical players – to join the format so that they can influence the Russian Federation, which means the end of the war in Ukraine. That is why I advocated the expansion of the Normandy format. It may be a different format so as not to break, let's say, agreements within the Normandy format, it may be another parallel format, but it seems to me that the quality does not change with the number of formats,” Zelensky said.

The president stressed that if Russia "is forced by our joint efforts and partners or agrees thanks to our joint diplomatic work to end the war, it will do so, despite the number of added states and the number of formats."

At the same time, the head of state noted that he would like "the U.S. power to help Ukraine put an end to this tragedy in the center of Europe in the 21st century."

As reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky is on a visit to the Republic of Lithuania on July 6-7, where he takes part in Ukraine Reform Conference. The Conference was launched in London in 2017 as a format for uniting the efforts of partners and friends of Ukraine. The participants in the forum discuss the situation in the country and assess democratic transformations and reforms that have been conducted since 2014. The conference was then convened in Copenhagen in 2018 and in Toronto in 2019.

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