Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a global peace summit this winter in a video message recorded just ahead of FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and France. Kyiv hoped the video message would be broadcast before the final but FIFA appears unlikely to allow such a move.
CNN reported on Friday that Zelenskiy had asked world soccer’s governing body FIFA to let him share a message of peace before the final.
“We offered Peace Formula to the world. Absolutely fair. We offered it because there are no champions in war, there can be no draw,” Zelensky said in a video message issued by his office.
“I announce the initiative to hold a Global Peace Formula Summit this winter. The summit to unite all nations of the world around the cause of global peace. Stadiums’ stands get empty after the match, and after the war cities remain empty,” he said.
Zelensky had wanted to appear via video link before Argentina take on defending champions France at Doha’s Lusail Stadium for the final with an expected global audience of hundreds of millions, CNN reported.
There was no immediate reaction from FIFA as to whether such a broadcast would be allowed but prospects appear dim.
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter that FIFA “shows a lack of understanding of the disaster that the Russian federation is dragging the world into by starting a war in Ukraine”.
(With inputs from agencies)
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