Ukraine war must be made 'painful enough' to push Russia to peace talks: Zelensky

The Ukraine war must be made painful enough to push Russia to peace talks, Ukraine's president urged on Monday.

Speaking at a news conference following a Coalition of the Willing summit in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelensky, put Russia's spending on the continuing war at about €330 billion ($385 billion), compared with €130 billion ($152 billion) by Ukraine—though not mentioning a time frame-but added that Ukraine has a deficit of some €27 billion ($31.5 billion).

The war should be "painful" to pressure the Russian public to push President Vladimir Putin toward negotiations, he said.

"I think this is one of the instruments (of) how to push Putin to negotiations," he said. "We need the same competitive number (of drones), not of money, because they have two times more money for today."

Zelensky also said Russia is trying to block Ukraine's Black Sea corridor but has not imposed a total blockade.

"Today there is no total blockade, there is an attempt at a total blockade, but three to four ships a day enter and leave Greater Odesa, despite the fact that they are attacking the port infrastructure," he said.

He said several options are being considered to keep the grain corridor open, including talks with "Russians" and strengthening air defenses along the route.

"Before the blockade of our sea corridor, before the blockade by drones and missiles from the Russian side, we worked daily and the volume was three to four times greater than today," he said.

Zelensky also said Ukraine would receive new military and energy aid packages, including air defense systems and funding for drone production, following the summit. He said air defense would remain a priority.

"We are moving in two directions: We are looking for and buying PAC-3 through PURL and other formats, and we are all working to speed up the FREYJA project," he said, according to Ukrinform.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who also attended the summit, also offered to strengthen efforts against Russia's shadow fleet, Zelensky said, adding that a separate meeting on the issue was proposed.

Zelensky called for the Coalition of the Willing to hold regular summits, saying there should be no long pauses between meetings. He said coalition members had requested another meeting in September.

On Monday, leaders of the Coalition of the Willing gathered in the capital Kyiv and by video to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the restoration of Ukraine's independence.