By Yuliia Dysa
(Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that the current state of play on the battlefield had created an opportunity for steps to end Russia's more than 2-1/2-year-old invasion no later than next year.
Addressing the third Ukraine-South East Europe summit in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik, the Ukrainian leader said Kyiv was counting on the support of its important allies including the United States.
"In October, November and December, we have a real chance to move the situation towards peace and long-term stability," he said. "The situation on the battlefield creates an opportunity to make this choice - a choice in favour of decisive action to end the war no later than 2025."
Zelenskiy did not spell out how and why he perceived such an opportunity. Russian forces now hold just under 20% of Ukraine, in its east and south.
Moscow's troops continue to steadily gain ground in Ukraine's east while Kyiv's troops control a small chunk of Russian territory across the border, two months after launching an incursion into the Kursk region.
Kyiv has been intensively lobbying allies to allow Western-weapons strikes on military targets deeper inside Russia.
Zelenskiy's comments come amid great uncertainty for Kyiv ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. election that could return Donald Trump to the White House. Trump has said he would seek a quick end to the war, which Kyiv's supporters fear could entail crushing concessions being foisted on Ukraine.
Zelenskiy appealed to the political will of Kyiv's allies to approve his "victory plan", which he said envisages Ukraine's invitation to NATO.
He has pitched the plan as a way to put Ukraine on a strong footing for potential negotiations with Russia, though none are known to be currently planned.
"As I said, the plan is designed to strengthen Ukraine. There can be no scepticism from partners, in my opinion, if they are just not afraid of the Russian Federation. Because we want to get the first step – an invitation" to join NATO, he told reporters after the summit.
WEAPONS INVESTMENTS, RESTORATION
Zelenskiy also called on senior politicians from 12 southeast European nations at the summit to invest in Ukrainian weapons production, which Kyiv has ramped up while at war.
"This will help us now, but after this war it will guarantee the strength of your own arsenals," he said.
Zelenskiy met Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to sign a 10-year bilateral agreement on cooperation and Croatian support for Ukraine.
"It is a natural reflex for Croatia, which in its past was exposed to war and received much less international aid. Today we stand together in defence of democracy and peace," Plenkovic said, referring to Croatia's 1990s war for independence from Yugoslavia.
Zelenskiy urged the summit's participants to join efforts to rebuild Ukraine. "We are not just talking only about rebuilding what was destroyed by Russia in this war, but also about creating new energy, industrial and social opportunities that will make Europe stronger."
The summit between Ukraine and southeastern European nations was the third of its kind, after one in August 2022 in Athens, Greece, and another in Tirana, Albania.
(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko, Aleksandar Vasovic and Yuliia Dysa; editing by Hugh Lawson, Alison Williams and Mark Heinrich)
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