The German government does not expect decisive progress to be achieved in finding a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine during the security conference planned for the end of this week, a Berlin spokesman said, quoted by Agence France-Presse, BTA reports.
"I have not received concrete indications that decisive progress is possible," stressed Steffen Hebestreit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to talk with US Vice President J.D. Vance on the sidelines of the Munich forum on Friday. U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are also expected to attend.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also called for more moderate expectations regarding diplomatic meetings. "The end of the tunnel is not yet in sight," he said in an interview with the news website Table.Briefings.
Hebeschreit also reiterated the German government's position that "nothing should be decided through the heads of the Ukrainians, they should decide how they will start negotiations with the Russian side.".
"The simplest means" to stop the war "would be for the Russian president to withdraw his troops and stop this campaign", which has already resulted in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of thousands of people and unprecedented destruction and suffering, the spokesman added.