Zelenskyy invites Russia to next Ukraine peace summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia should be represented at a second summit aiming to secure lasting peace with the Kremlin, after more than two years of war.

Dozens of world leaders voiced support for a just peace in Ukraine after a high-level summit convened by Zelenskyy last month in Switzerland, to which Russia was not invited.

"I believe that Russian representatives should be at the second summit," Zelenskyy told a press conference in Kiev on Monday, where he laid out preparatory work for a follow-up summit.

Zelenskyy announced separate meetings on key issues, including energy security, to be held in Qatar and on food security in Türkiye ahead of a second summit.

Leaders and top officials from more than 90 states gathered at a Swiss mountainside resort on June 15 for the two-day summit dedicated to resolving the largest European conflict since World War II.

The Kremlin said that any discussions around ending the conflict that did not include Russia were "absurd."

F-16 deployment

Zelenskyy made the remark in Kiev after returning from a visit to Washington last week for a summit of the NATO military alliance more than 28 months since Russia's full-scale war.

A Russian deputy foreign minister said last week that Moscow would not attend the follow-up summit, although the Kremlin has been less categorical and said there was "no precise substance" regarding the idea of a second summit.

Ukraine has said the follow-up summit would discuss a plan that is devised by dozens of countries divided into working groups.

Zelenskyy also said Ukraine would receive some F-16 fighter jets this summer and more before the end of the year and that he could not disclose how many there would be exactly.

"There will not be enough. They will certainly strengthen us, but will there be enough of them to fight at a level with the Russian air force? I think they will not be enough. We are anticipating a larger quantity", he told reporters.