Volker: the conflict in the Donbas can be solved in a few months
In a broadcast by the television channel Dozhd, US Special Representative on Ukraine Kurt Volker said that he believes that the conflict in the Donbas can be solved in a few months.
"If Russia is prepared to solve problems and we, from our side, are also ready to do so, I am sure that everything will be resolved in a few months. I do not think that it will be difficult to implement. The difficulty lies in making a decision. I think that literally within a few months we will see whether there is progress or not," he said.
Volker stressed that ending the war in the Donbas is a key requirement for improving US-Russian relations.
"In Hamburg, President Trump told President Putin that we will not be able to strengthen or improve US-Russian relations until the conflict in Ukraine is resolved, which hinders the establishment of bilateral relations ... For Trump, the conflict in Ukraine is one of the main obstacles to the improvement of relations between the US and Russia. Of course, this is not the only problem," the US ambassador said.
In his opinion, only political will is needed to end the war.
"Are going to solve this problem or not? If we are going to, then we can use the Minsk process for it. But first we need to develop a decision-making system. We do not currently have one; therefore, the Normandy format has not given the expected result," said Volker.
On July 7, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appointed Volker, the former US ambassador to NATO, as Special Representative for Ukraine. He will coordinate the efforts of the State Department to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
In recent years, Volker worked at a republican organization, the McCain Institute for Global Leadership.