World must pressure Russia toward diplomatic settlement, Zelensky says.

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The world must exert pressure on Russia and force it to consider ending its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the BBC on July 18. "It doesn't mean that all territories are won back by force. I think the power of diplomacy can help," Zelensky said, adding that weakening Russia on the battlefield would give Ukraine a more advantageous position in negotiations.

"By putting pressure on Russia, I think it is possible to agree to a diplomatic settlement." Kyiv and Moscow have not led direct negotiations since unsuccessful talks in early 2022, and a Russian representative was not invited to the global peace summit hosted by Switzerland in June. While Ukraine said it aims to invite Russia to the follow-up conference, Moscow said beforehand it would not attend.

Speaking a day ahead of the Switzerland summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that as a condition for peace negotiations, Ukraine must fully withdraw from four partially occupied oblasts that Moscow illegally annexed in 2022. Kyiv rejected this demand. In turn, the Kremlin has rejected Ukraine's key condition in Zelensky's 10-point peace formula on the full withdrawal of Russian forces. Peace between Russia and Ukraine is one of the claimed foreign policy goals of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The former president has repeatedly pledged to end the war within 24 hours, which could, according to some reports, include forcing Ukraine to cede territory. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country is considered the most Kremlin-friendly EU and NATO member, met Trump as part of his self-styled "peace mission" in Florida, claiming that the U.S. politician would quickly demand that Ukraine hold peace talks with Russia if he is reelected. Commenting on Trump's potential return to the White House, Zelensky said that dealing with him would be "hard work, but we (Ukrainians) are hard workers."

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