Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he hopes for “significant positive influence” from Israel prime minister Naftali Bennett.
The Ukrainian president said Israel could give security guarantees to Ukraine – and floated the idea that peace talks could take place in Jerusalem.
Putin holds 75-minute call with Macron and Scholz about how ‘to end war in Ukraine’
In recent minutes, a couple of intriguing and potentially significant pieces of news have emerged around geopolitical efforts to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a halt.
While French president Emmanuel Macron has been speaking to the Russian leader almost every other day in recent weeks, the pair were joined in a 75-minute phone call today by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
A German government spokesperson said the conversation was “part of ongoing international efforts to end the war in Ukraine” – interestingly adding that the three men agreed to say nothing further about the substance of the phone call.
Perhaps also significantly, it emerged Mr Scholz had earlier spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the situation.
In a separate statement, the Kremlin said Mr Putin told the pair about the state of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv and responded to their concerns about the humanitarian situation.
The Kremlin did not elaborate on the Russian leader’s comments about the state of talks, but, as reported here at the time, he said yesterday that there had been “certain positive shifts” in the negotiations.
While it is impossible to accurately gauge exactly how meaningful these latest developments might be, the nature of the various statements will foster renewed hopes that key figures may be making progress in efforts to find a diplomatic resolution that could end the conflict.