KYIV: Ukraine will continue to work with partners including the US on peace proposals, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, the second day of talks in Switzerland after Washington proposed a plan calling for concessions from Kyiv.
“We all continue working with partners, especially the United States, to look for compromises that will strengthen but not weaken us,” Zelensky said via video link from Sweden where he was attending a summit of countries seeking Russian withdrawal from Ukraine’s occupied Crimea Peninsula.

On Sunday, Ukraine and the United States said in a joint statement they had drafted a “refined peace framework” after talks in Geneva, although they did not provide specifics.
Zelensky said Russia must pay for the war in Ukraine and that a decision on using frozen Russian assets was crucial.
“Right now, we are at a critical moment,” he said.
“There is a lot of noise in the media, and all the political pressure, and even greater responsibility for the decisions ahead.”

Ukraine’s red lines for negotiations are the formal recognition of occupied territories, limits on Ukraine’s defense forces, and restrictions on Ukraine’s future alliances, the speaker of the country’s parliament said on Monday.

Those positions have been long stated by Ukraine, but run counter to the proposals in a US-backed peace proposal presented to Kyiv last week.

Speaking at the Crimea Platform summit in Sweden, speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk also said membership of the EU and NATO must be elements of Ukraine’s security guarantees and any peace plan.