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Added on the 16/07/2018 12:04:54 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he hopes a giant summit in Switzerland on how to end the war in his country would swiftly help usher in a "just peace". "I believe that we will witness history being made here at the summit," Zelensky says at the start of the two-day gathering, adding: "May a just peace be established as soon as possible." SOUNDBITE
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voices hope that a successful offensive by Ukraine would force Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending its invasion. "Success in the counteroffensive would do two things -- it would strengthen its position at any negotiating table that emerges, and it may have the effect as well of actually causing Putin to finally focus on negotiating an end to the war that he started," Blinken tells a joint news conference with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. SOUNDBITE
Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius says he believes the EU member will manage to send a first battalion of tanks to war-torn Ukraine by April. "I think we could deliver at least one battalion in the first four months of this year. Three months maybe. And then we have to proceed as fast as possible of course," he tells reporters while on a visit to Warsaw. SOUNDBITE
A prosecutor in the MH17 trial says she hopes for favourable outcome but that it was also important "that we could speak about what happened openly in court" as a Dutch court rules in the trial of four men over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 above Ukraine in 2014. Prosecutors have demanded life sentences for the suspects although the men are unlikely to serve time if convicted. SOUNDBITE
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen says her executive will "by the end of next week" finalise its opinion on whether Ukraine should be a candidate country to join the EU. "The discussions today will enable us to finalise our assessment by the end of next week," she tells Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv during a surprise visit. SOUNDBITE
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