In a news conference with visiting German counterpart in Kyiv, Andrii Sybiha calls for acceleration of work to establish peace, says diplomacy plays key role
Burc Eruygur
22 August 2026•Update: 22 August 2026
ISTANBUL
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Saturday that, for Kyiv, establishing peace amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is only possible through European participation.
During a joint press conference with his visiting German counterpart Johann Wadephul, who arrived in the Ukrainian capital earlier in the day, Sybiha said they were currently at a moment when “work on bringing peace closer can be accelerated,” noting that diplomacy plays a key role.
“Ukraine’s principled position is that achieving true peace is possible only with the active participation of Europe at the negotiating table,” Sybiha said.
In this context, Sybiha said preparations for new sanctions against Russia were important, stating that the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026, which was passed by the US Senate earlier this month, and a potential new EU sanctions package should be “as strong as possible.”
He further stressed the need to resume Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations, particularly with US participation.
“There should be no pauses, and the new active political and diplomatic season should focus primarily on how to end this war,” Sybiha went on to say, renewing Kyiv’s accusations against Moscow over preventing an end to the conflict.
Sybiha said that he and Wadephul paid special attention to the topic of introducing “special anti-ballistic” sanctions to weaken Russia’s ability to produce such missiles. “Today, we discussed the elements and steps towards their implementation.”
He also described frozen Russian assets as “another important element of pressure,” saying they discussed this issue and that the topic itself should be brought back into discussions in Europe.
“We also very much hope for the support of our European allies and partners to make progress on this issue, to legally unblock it and to find an opportunity to use over €200 billion euros of Russian frozen assets,” he said.
He also said they discussed other topics such as defense and Kyiv’s EU accession, adding that he received assurances from his German counterpart that Berlin would continue supporting Ukraine through winter.
Kyiv has consistently argued for European representation in a settlement to the Ukraine war.
Although Moscow does not reject diplomacy with Europe, it accuses some countries of undermining peace efforts and continuing to seek a “strategic defeat” for Russia.
