President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has unveiled his much anticipated "Victory Plan" at Ukraine's parliament, urging his war-weary country to stay united at a precarious time ahead of a presidential election in its US key ally.
As Russian troops advance in the east and a bleak winter of power shortages looms, he told lawmakers on Wednesday his plan contained five main points that relied on Kyiv's allies, including an unconditional invite to join NATO and specific weapons support.
"Together with our partners, we must change the circumstances so that the war ends. Regardless of what Putin wants. We must all change the circumstances so that Russia is forced to peace," he told lawmakers and top officials.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy's speech sought to persuade Ukraine's exhausted public the war can end soon. (AP PHOTO)
His third point emphasised the need for Ukraine to acquire a non-nuclear deterrence capacity that he said would be enough to destroy Russian military power. He did not elaborate, but said there was an additional secret addendum that he could not disclose.
The plan, he said, also envisaged a Western role defending Ukraine's natural mineral resources from Russian attacks as well as post-war reconstruction pledges.
The speech was attended by his top military, intelligence and political brass as well as lawmakers, some of whom occasionally stood up to applaud.
The Kremlin said it was too early to comment in detail on Zelenskiy's plan, but that Kyiv needed to "sober up" and realise the futility of the policies it was pursuing.
After two-and-a-half years of war, the speech sought to persuade Ukraine's exhausted public that the war can be ended soon and to emphasise the importance of ordinary Ukrainians remaining united as war challenges pile up.
"We achieved and are achieving results in battles thanks to our unity. Therefore, please do not lose unity," he said.
Ukraine faces both difficulties and uncertainty ahead of the US election that could return Donald Trump to the White House.
The Republican former president has pledged to rapidly end the war before entering office if he wins, an idea that Kyiv's supporters fear would involve big concessions in the name of a quick deal.
Zelenskiy met US President Joe Biden, his key ally, in Washington at the end of the September to present the plan. In a subsequent whirlwind tour of Europe, he met the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Germany to discuss it.
Zelenskiy said he would travel to summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on Thursday to present his plan.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has met US President Joe Biden and will discuss the plan with European leaders. (AP PHOTO)
The speech came after Russia launched one of its largest drone salvos at Ukraine in recent months, targeting Kyiv and other cities and igniting a fire at an industrial facility in the western region of Ternopil, officials said on Wednesday.
Air defences shot down 51 of 136 drones used in the attack, the air force said in its readout. Twenty drones were still in the air and 60 were unaccounted for, possibly after being intercepted by electronic warfare systems, it added.
Almost 50 firefighters put out a "large-scale fire" in the Ternopil region, the military administration wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
"There were no injuries," it said, declining to name the affected facility.
The air force said Russia also fired two missiles at the northern Chernihiv and eastern Donetsk regions, but did say what happened to them. There was no immediate comment from Russia on its latest strike.
The drone attack caused a fire at a private residence in the region outside the capital and damaged several other buildings, according to governor Ruslan Kravchenko.
The region was under air alert for more than 12 hours because of the attack.
Kravchenko said there were no casualties.
All the drones that targeted Kyiv overnight were destroyed and there were no reports of damage or injuries, Serhiy Popko, the city military administration's chief, said.
Russian strikes have pounded Ukraine's power facilities this year and long blackouts and other outages are almost certain to make the looming winter difficult for ordinary Ukrainians far from the front line where Russian troops have been advancing.