Zelenskiy urges allies to keep up pressure on Russia ahead of talks with US

By Pavel Polityuk

KYIV, March 22 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday urged allies to keep up sanctions pressure on Russia ahead of a second day of talks between Ukrainian and U.S. delegations on ways to end the four-year-old war, triggered by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russian representatives were not present at the latest talks, which opened in Florida on Saturday. They were originally expected to attend the negotiations, which were due to take place in Abu Dhabi.

The U.S. team is led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law.

Zelenskiy, who said on Saturday talks should continue if there was to be an agreement, on Sunday called for tougher action against Russia's so-called shadow fleet and for Moscow to be denied oil revenues.

"Revenues give Russia a sense of impunity and the ability to continue the war. That is why pressure must continue and sanctions must work," Zelenskiy said on X.

"Russia's shadow fleet must not feel safe in European waters or anywhere else. Tankers that serve the war budget can and must be stopped and blocked, not just let go," he added.

The French Navy seized an oil tanker in the Western Mediterranean last week that President Emmanuel Macron said was part of Russia's shadow fleet, a network of vessels used to export oil despite Western sanctions.

The shadow fleet, which has grown following Western sanctions on Russia aimed at curbing Moscow's oil revenues, has helped to keep Russian oil exports flowing.

PEACE WON THROUGH WAR

Elements of the peace plan being promoted by the U.S. include a presidential election in Ukraine, alongside territorial concessions.

Zelenskiy, whose term has already expired, is under renewed pressure from Trump to hold a vote as Washington pushes Kyiv towards a peace deal.

Ukrainian law bars wartime elections, but Zelenskiy has said Ukraine would be ready to hold democratic elections if the U.S. secured a two-month ceasefire to allow time to prepare infrastructure and put security guarantees in place.

But Ukraine's former top general, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, now ambassador to Britain and seen as a potential presidential candidate, said Ukraine needed not elections but peace won through war.

"What Ukraine needs is not time to prepare for and hold elections, but a peace won through war, which will secure a future for our children," he wrote in an article published on Sunday by Ukrainian outlet NV.