Zelenskyy preparing ‘comprehensive plan’ for peace in Ukraine

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he’s working on a “comprehensive plan” for how Kyiv sees the war with Russia ending.

Speaking to reporters in Kyiv alongside Slovenia’s President Nataša Pirc Musar, he said, “We do not want to prolong this war.”

“We must come to a just peace as soon as possible. We have talked about the situation on the battlefield, in particular in the Kharkiv region where Russia tried to start a large-scale offensive. The occupiers did not manage this. Our Ukrainian forces have stabilized the situation and stopped the offensive, which was difficult. We will continue to do the same to strip Russia of the illusion that it can achieve something with this war,” he said.

The focus of Zelenskyy’s meeting with Pirc Musar was to discuss preparations for a second international peace summit, following a two-day event earlier this month in Switzerland.

“I am very happy about the progress at the first peacekeeping conference in Switzerland. And we agreed that there is no politician in Europe who does not want peace. We all understand the risks. But Ukraine is the one that has to decide when and under what conditions it will negotiate. And here we are on your side,” she said.

Zelenskyy hosted that summit to rally international support for Ukraine in its two-year war with Russia.

Leaders and senior officials from more than 90 countries attended and the majority agreed to a final communique that said Ukraine’s territorial integrity must be respected in any peace settlement.

But not everyone there agreed with the wording of the statement and refused to sign. Some countries such as India and Saudi Arabia said the effectiveness of the summit itself was limited by Russia’s absence.

There is currently no official direct negotiation mechanism between Zelenksyy and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, but Ukraine has repeatedly said Russia must withdraw all its forces from within its border, including from the Crimean Peninsula which it annexed in 2014, before serious peace talks can begin.

But Russian troops are making some territorial gains on the battlefield and Zelenskyy has often complained about the slow supply of arms and munitions from Western allies.

On Friday, Zelenksyy posted on X that a Russian strike on a residential apartment block in Dnipro had destroyed four floors and injured three people.

Local authorities said one person was killed in the strike and two have been declared missing. The regional governor said a seven-month-old child was among the injured after inhaling smoke from the strike.

Zelenskyy called on European Union leaders on Thursday to live up to their promises to provide military equipment to his country as the bloc pledged long-term support to Kyiv.

Speaking at an EU Council Summit in Brussels on Thursday, Zelenskyy said he would put forward a “detailed plan” to bring about an end to the war in months.

“All those who really want peace must work together to develop an action plan to address all the security aspects that have been violated by Russia,” he told reporters in Kyiv on Friday.