KYIV, Aug. 25 – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the next meeting of the Normandy Format, which includes leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia, may pave the way for ending the war in Donbas.

Zelenskiy said that peace negotiations so far have been proceeding at a slower pace than he had originally expected, but said there were encouraging signs.

"It is moving, but not as fast as I expected. Now there's a ceasefire. There will be a Normandy format meeting,” Zelenskiy said in an interview with EuroNews television.

"Also, there was the prisoner exchange. We have agreed on the disengagement sites and 20 de‐ mining sites, which is very important.

"How much more time is needed? I don’t know. I think the second Normandy format meeting means that there's a high chance of ending the war."

He said that significant progress may be made by the end of the year, but this will also require cooperation from Russia-backed forces in the Donbas.

"I want to believe that it will be this year. I really want to believe it and I DO believe, I do. If it was only up to me, if it depended only on me…

"I don’t want to give you names now, but compared with the previous team, no-one wanted it as much as I do, not even close to as much. No one has done as much in terms of speeding up the process and putting pressure on it.

"And everyone sees it! And I don’t mean only us here in Ukraine. Our partners see it, our foreign partners. All of them see it.

"I do know that no-one can end (the war) faster than me."

"There is still a bit of time as I promised. That is why I want to move forward this way. And if it doesn’t work – then we will think about other options." (en/ez)