Zelensky drafting 'comprehensive plan' to end war with Russia

Kyiv [Ukraine]: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he is drawing up a "comprehensive plan", that will be supported by most of the world, to end the war with Russia, reported Al Jazeera.

"It is very important for us to show a plan to end the war that the majority of the world will support," the Ukrainian president and Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar said at a news conference in Kyiv on Friday.

"This is the diplomatic route we are working on," he added. Zelensky further said that there are no current negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. There are no current negotiations between Ukraine and Russia and, based on public statements by Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two sides appear as far apart as ever when it comes to the terms of a potential peace settlement, reported Al Jazeera.

Ukraine has repeatedly said Russia must pull its troops out of its internationally recognised territory, including the peninsula of Crimea that Moscow annexed in 2014, before peace talks can start.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, is demanding Ukraine effectively capitulate by evacuating even more territory across its east and south that Russia now occupies.

Earlier this month, the Ukrainian President hosted a major international summit in Switzerland, where Russia was not invited, to rally support for Ukraine's position.

Over 90 countries sent leaders and senior officials to the two-day summit in Switzerland and a vast majority agreed to a final communique that stressed the need for Ukraine's "territorial integrity" to be respected in any settlement, Al Jazeera reported.

Moreover, Russia's troops are slowly advancing on Ukraine's territory, and have claimed to have seized another small front-line village on Friday.

Moscow currently occupies about 25 per cent of Ukraine and, in 2022, claimed to have annexed four more regions, none of which they fully control.

Earlier on Thursday, at an EU Council Summit in Brussels, Zelenskyy said he would put forward a "detailed plan" in a matter of months to end the war, reported Al Jazeera. "We don't have too much time," he said, pointing to the high casualty rate among soldiers and civilians.
(ANI)