Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv and its allies are working to finalize a ceasefire plan within the next 10 days, while welcoming new US sanctions on Russian oil companies and also urging Washington to provide long-range missiles to pressure Moscow into peace talks.
Speaking to Axios, Zelenskyy said President Donald Trump's latest sanctions package "will make a difference," estimating that the measures could cut Russia's oil exports by up to 50%, costing Moscow around $5 billion per month.
Still, he warned that "sanctions alone won't stop" President Vladimir Putin.
"President Trump is concerned about escalation. But if there are no negotiations, there will be escalation anyway," Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine "needs long-range missiles" to deter further attacks.
Following a tense White House meeting with Trump earlier this month, Zelensky said the two leaders discussed a potential framework for peace based on freezing the current front lines.
He noted that the idea was "constructive," though Putin had since rejected similar proposals in talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Zelensky revealed that after the meeting, he and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed to begin drafting a peace proposal "like a plan for a ceasefire," with work to be completed "in the next week or 10 days."
He emphasized that the plan would be concise and pragmatic.
"I told our partners the plan should be short, without too many details. Some quick points—like a plan for a ceasefire," he said, cautioning that he remains skeptical of Russia's willingness to accept any deal.
Zelensky also rejected reports of major Russian advances, claiming that intelligence from both Ukraine and the US showed that "nobody is winning now on the battlefield."
The initiative follows the collapse of a planned Trump-Putin summit in Budapest after Moscow rebuffed Washington's proposals.
US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev held backchannel talks in Miami over the weekend to break the stalemate.
