Ukrainian official dismisses notion of new peace summit as start of Russia talks

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff said in an interview published on Thursday that a second Kyiv-led peace summit should not be treated as the start of negotiations with Russia.

Andriy Yermak, speaking to the media outlet Evropeiska Pravda, said the objective of a second summit would be to agree on a peace plan jointly approved by participants which could then be presented to Russia.

"It is possible for a Russian representative to attend the second summit to whom this plan could be handed over," he said. "One should not treat the second summit as the beginning of negotiations with Russia."

Participants at the peace summit held in June in Switzerland without Russia agreed to take steps on specific issues like food security, humanitarian issues, the return of prisoners and energy. Zelenskiy has said Ukraine wanted to hold a second summit this year with a Russian representative in attendance.

In his comments to Evropeiska Pravda, Yermak said other issues had to be tackled on which a joint position was more difficult to achieve, including the withdrawal of Russian forces and the restoration of the country's 1991 post-Soviet borders.

He said Ukraine wanted matters to proceed quickly, though it was not certain a second gathering could take place in 2024.

"We want this to happen, but there are conditions without which a second summit cannot take place," he said, referring to the drafting of a joint peace plan.

Russia dismissed the first peace summit as meaningless without Moscow's participation.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Ron Popeski, Chris Reese and Diane Craft)