Zelenskyy to attend Davos meeting in hope of reviving Ukraine peace plan

Senior western security advisers will meet in Switzerland before World Economic Forum kicks off

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be in Davos this week. AP

Ukraine and Switzerland will host about 120 national security advisers in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos, Switzerland's Foreign Affairs Department said, the latest in a series of meetings to help push forward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's formula for an end to Russia's war on his country.

Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, and Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis are hosting Sunday's conference.

The advisers' meeting, which takes place in the run-up to the World Economic Forum beginning the following day, is the fourth of its kind and the biggest yet following gatherings in Copenhagen, Jeddah and most recently in Malta in October.

Mr Zelenskyy is set to attend the World Economic Forum's annual meeting which begins on Tuesday.

He will try to keep international attention on Ukraine's defence at a time of waning support for Kyiv in the West and the Israel-Gaza conflict in the Middle East.

He will speak in person at the forum, according to the WEF's agenda.

Officials had hoped the meeting in Malta would lead to the setting of a date for a global peace summit to build a coalition of support for Ukraine's 10-point peace plan, drafted by Mr Zelenskyy in December 2022.

However, the meeting concluded with a joint statement referring to the participants' commitment to just and lasting peace.

A senior Kyiv official told Reuters in November that a summit to begin implementing the plan “might” take place in February 2024, but Ukraine fears war in Gaza is making it harder to win over diplomatic support for its blueprint for peace.

Mr Zelenskyy has prepared a 10-point peace formula that, among other things, seeks the expulsion of all Russian forces from Ukraine at a time when both sides are fighting along a roughly 1,500-kilometre front line.

It includes calls for the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity, protection of food and energy supplies, nuclear safety and the release of all prisoners of war.

The peace formula talks do not involve Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has occupied nearly a fifth of the country.

Russia has rejected the peace formula, saying it would be impossible to implement.

Russian forces have recently stepped up missile and drone attacks that have stretched Ukraine’s air defences, leaving Kyiv looking for further weapons supplies and additional funding.

“The war is far from over and peace is still nowhere in sight,” the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs said in a preview to Sunday's talks.