On the third anniversary of the war… Zelensky proposes exchanging all prisoners of war with Moscow to initiate dialogue with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday proposed an exchange of all prisoners of war with Russia as a starting point to end the conflict in his country.

“Russia must release Ukrainians… Ukraine is ready to exchange all prisoners and this is a fair starting point,” Zelensky said at a summit in Kyiv on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Zelensky on Monday saluted three years of resistance and heroism on the third anniversary of the Russian attack on his country, as leaders of a number of countries held a summit in Kiev to reaffirm their support for the country.

“Three years of resistance… Three years of gratitude… Three years of absolute heroism shown by Ukrainians,” Zelensky wrote on social media, thanking “all those who defend and support Ukraine”.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv on Sunday morning, accompanied by European Council President Antonio Costa, to attend the summit.

“We’re in Kiev today because Ukraine is Europe… In this struggle for survival, it’s not only the fate of Ukraine that is at stake, but the fate of Europe,” she wrote on social media, accompanying her post with a video of herself arriving on a train in Kiev with Costa.

Zelensky announced on Sunday, commenting on the meeting, which will be joined by 24 officials via video, “We’ve an important meeting tomorrow, a summit… It may be a turning point,” at a time when the United States changed its position on this conflict in a shift that reshuffled the cards of the conflict.

In a challenge to Kiev and its European allies, the United States will present to the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council on Monday a draft resolution calling for a rapid end to the conflict in Ukraine without referring to the country’s territorial integrity, a test of President Donald Trump’s new approach to the Russian war.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine three years ago, the balance of power at the United Nations has been clear, between overwhelming and unequivocal political support in the General Assembly for Ukraine and its sovereignty in the face of Moscow, and the inability to act in the Security Council due to the Russian Veto.

However, Trump’s return to the White House has reshuffled the cards, in light of the rapprochement he began with the Kremlin and the intensification of his attacks on his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, who is now facing increasing pressure.

In this tense diplomatic context and with the third anniversary of the Russian invasion approaching, Ukraine and more than fifty countries will submit a draft resolution for a vote in the United Nations General Assembly on Monday morning, stressing the urgent need to end the war this year, and unequivocally reiterating the General Assembly’s previous demands for the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory and the cessation of Russian hostilities.

While there were questions about the possibility of the United States abstaining from voting on this text, Washington surprised everyone on Friday by presenting a competing draft resolution.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was a simple and historic draft resolution, calling on member states to ratify it.

The very short text calls for an end to the conflict as soon as possible and calls for a lasting peace between Kiev and Moscow, without mentioning Ukraine’s territorial integrity, which was a cornerstone of previous General Assembly resolutions and of which the United States, under President Joe Biden, has been a staunch advocate.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the US resolution was a “good idea,” while Moscow is seeking an amendment calling for addressing the “root causes” of the conflict.

For any resolution to be adopted, it must receive the votes of at least nine of the 15 members of the Security Council, without a veto by any of the five permanent members.

Therefore, abstentions by the members of the European Union (France, Slovenia, Denmark and Greece) and the United Kingdom won’t be sufficient to reject it.

Hence, questions are being raised about whether France and the United Kingdom are prepared to use their veto power for the first time in more than 30 years, in light of the expected visit of French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the White House this week.