Ukraine is hoping a peace summit being planned by Switzerland will address Kyiv’s vision for ending the two-year war against Russia and that the outline of that peace plan would be presented to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday.

“I hope it will take place this spring. We must not lose this diplomatic initiative,” the Ukrainian leader told reporters at a news conference in Kyiv.

Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, has floated the possibility that Ukraine and its foreign partners could invite Russia to the future summit to discuss an end to Moscow’s invasion on Kyiv’s terms.

“There can be a situation in which we together invite representatives of the Russian Federation, where they will be presented with the plan in case whomever is representing the aggressor country at that time will want to genuinely end this war and return to a just peace,” Yermak said Sunday.

Zelenskyy noted at the press conference that Ukraine’s victory in the war against invading Russian forces depends on support from the West, adding that he felt “positive” about the prospect of long-range missiles being supplied to Kyiv by its allies and partners.

Zelenskyy said he was certain that the U.S. Congress would approve a major new batch of military and financial assistance but noted that Ukraine needed that decision to be made “within a month.”

He also disclosed that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed during the invasion, disclosing the first official figure for military losses in many months.

The Ukrainian leader told reporters that he could not disclose figures for the number of wounded, saying doing so would help Russian military planning.

Ukraine aid

Half of promised Western military aid to Ukraine is delivered later than promised, undermining defense planning and ultimately costing soldiers’ lives, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustav Umerov said Sunday.

“At the moment, commitment does not constitute delivery,” Umerov said during a “Ukraine. Year 2024” forum in Kyiv, dedicated to the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

He said that each delayed aid shipment meant Ukrainian troop losses, and underscored Russia’s military might and “air superiority.”

“We look to the enemy: their economy is almost $2 trillion, they use up to 15% official and nonofficial budget [funds] for the war, which constitutes over $100 billion annually. So basically, whenever a commitment doesn’t come on time, we lose people, we lose territory,” Umerov said.

Umerov and Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi toured front-line combat posts earlier Sunday amid the worsening ammunition shortage and dogged Russian attacks in the east.

In a Telegram update, Syrskyi said during their visit, they heard from front-line troops and “thoroughly analyzed” the battlefield situation which he described as “difficult.”

Ukraine has suffered setbacks on the battlefield, having lost the strategic eastern city of Avdiivka following intense battles this month, and as U.S. military aid for Kyiv hangs in the balance.

Sixty-one billion dollars in aid, promised by U.S. President Joe Biden, is still stalled by the U.S. House of Representatives, denting Kyiv’s hopes of pushing back the much larger, better supplied Russian military.

Russian shelling and rocket strikes continued to pummel Ukraine’s south and east Sunday, as local Ukrainian officials reported that at least two civilians were killed and a further eight suffered wounds in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces.

In a TV interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan expressed confidence that Ukraine can win this war as long as “it has the tools that it needs,” urging the U.S. House of Representatives to “step up and pass that bill.” He was referring to the Ukraine aid package that passed by a massive bipartisan vote in the Senate.

Sullivan said it is up to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to overcome political divisions in his caucus and “put the vote on the floor.”

“Now it comes down to a simple right or left turn, you know, one way is towards a vote that delivers Ukraine what it needs. The other way is towards an outcome that Vladimir Putin would love to see, which is the United States not stepping up to its responsibility,” he said.

Europe has acknowledged it will fall far short of a plan to deliver more than one million artillery shells to the country by March, instead hoping to complete the shipments by the end of the year.

However, at a visit in Kyiv on the second anniversary of the Ukraine war, European leaders pledged continuing support to Ukraine.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni signed a 10-year defense pact with Ukraine’s president Saturday, telling the Ukrainian people they “are not alone” in the fight. Britain, France, Germany and Denmark have signed similar pacts while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged about $2.25 billion in financial and military support for Ukraine this year saying, “We will stand with Ukraine with whatever it takes, for as long as it takes.”

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.