Zelensky says Russia should attend second Ukraine summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday 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 Zelensky last month in Switzerland, to which Russia was not invited.

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

Zelensky announced separate meetings on key issues, including energy security, to be held in Qatar and on food security in Turkey 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."