Zelensky: 'No Need for Mediation with Aggressor, But Ukraine Interested in Peace Proposals'

President Zelensky has said there is no point in attempts by certain countries or influential individuals to mediate between Ukraine and Russia to end the war, but that Ukraine is interested in proposals that can contribute to a just peace, primarily based on the Ukrainian Peace Formula.

In an interview with the Italian media during his visit to Italy, answering a question about the possible role of China or the Vatican in establishing peace in Ukraine, he said: "Russia started the war. Russia took lives. The war is on our land. We know all the crises that have happened, the challenges: nuclear, environmental, food, energy.

"Only we know what it is like. We have not proposed an artificial plan - we have proposed how to get out of this situation, to end the war - according to the law, respecting the UN Charter, international law, people, values."

Zelensky added that Ukraine welcomes the proposals of third parties to help overcome the crises provoked by the war and the Ukrainian Peace Formula is designed to engage those countries that really want to achieve peace in Europe.

The president said that Ukraine is strongly interested in the assistance of nuclear powers in resolving the issue of nuclear safety, as they are also guarantors of the Budapest Memorandum.

"Let them come to this site, and we will talk about how to solve this. We don't want to impose anything, we just want an understanding that there can't be weapons or militants at the nuclear power plant. A nuclear power plant cannot be shut down, it cannot be flooded, and the entire European continent cannot be threatened with another Chornobyl, this time six times bigger," he said.

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Zelensky also emphasized that there is no need for mediators between Ukraine and Russia, because Ukrainians remember well how the mediation with Russian President Vladimir Putin within the Normandy format ended.

"We have to develop an action plan for a just peace in Ukraine. And this is where we invite the Vatican as one of the leaders to this format. I said this to His Holiness," he said.