GERMAN Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday that efforts should be stepped up to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Chancellor Scholz said he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agree that Russia should be included in a future peace conference aimed at ending the war. 

A peace conference in Switzerland, in June, ended with 78 countries expressing support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity but left the path forward unclear.

Russia did not participate.

Chancellor Scholz told Germany’s ZDF public television: “I believe that now is the moment when we must discuss how we get out of this war situation faster than the current impression is.

“There will certainly be a further peace conference, and the president and I agree that it must be one with Russia present.”

Chancellor Scholz is facing political discontent at home over his government’s support for Ukraine following advances for the far-right AfD and anti-war BSW parties, which both oppose military aid, in recent regional elections.