Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on October 13 hailed the recently brokered Gaza ceasefire as an “extraordinary” diplomatic breakthrough, suggesting that the same determination that brought temporary peace to the Middle East could help end the war ravaging his own country. His remarks, delivered through a social media statement, come amid renewed international pressure on US President Donald Trump to translate his self-proclaimed deal-making prowess into tangible progress in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“When peace is achieved for one part of the world, it brings more hope for peace in other regions,” Zelensky wrote. “If a ceasefire and peace have been achieved for the Middle East, the leadership and determination of global actors can certainly work for us too, in Ukraine.”

His optimism follows months of faltering diplomatic efforts to bring Moscow and Kyiv to the negotiating table. More than three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022-the largest conflict in Europe since World War II-the war remains locked in a destructive stalemate. Tens of thousands have been killed, millions displaced, and large portions of Ukraine’s east and south reduced to rubble.

The front lines have shifted little in 2025, despite intense fighting across Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions. Russian forces still occupy roughly one-fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. While Ukraine has achieved localized successes with Western-supplied precision weapons, Russian defenses remain entrenched, and any large-scale counteroffensive appears unlikely before winter.

Peace negotiations, meanwhile, have........

© Blitz