Only a strong Ukraine can ensure a just peace with Russia, said Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the end of the Ukraine-SouthEast Europe Summit in Dubrovnik on Wednesday.

“Croatia’s experience also shows that weakness enables aggression, while power weakens and stops aggression,” Plenkovic said at a press conference he held with Zelenskyy after the summit, which was attended by top officials from 14 countries in the region.

“That is the purpose of this great, unprecedented effort. I can not remember any military support as big and powerful as the military support for Ukraine, which is aimed at making the country strong and enabling it to establish, if not a complete, then a partial balance of power,” said the Croatian Prime Minister.

Plenkovic: Territorial concessions are the worst possible message

He warned that the eventual peace agreement must not include any territorial concessions to the detriment of Ukraine.

“We must be principled in this respect. Territorial concessions are the worst possible message, both in terms of international law and today’s international relations. Ceding territory means giving the green light to any stronger player with expansionist ambitions to carry out a similar act of aggression anywhere in the world,” emphasised Prime Minister Plenkovic.

At the Dubrovnik summit, a declaration was adopted in which the South-East European countries expressed their support for Ukraine.

President Zelenskyy expressed his satisfaction with the support of the participating countries and emphasised that this was a message from the countries in favour of a just peace and not a halt to the war.

Commenting on his peace plan, which was to be presented to NATO partners at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the Ukrainian President said that the plan had nothing to do with Russia and Vladimir Putin, as US President Joe Biden was unable to travel this week due to Hurricane Milton.

Zelenskyy: Putin is not interested in his people, but only in power

This is a plan to strengthen Ukraine, both politically and on the battlefield, together with our allies. The plan does not depend on Putin, it depends only on our partners, President Zelenskyy said, emphasising that his peace plan would serve to bridge the gap until the next summit.

Ukraine wants a just peace and it does not matter whether Putin will agree to it. It is important to strengthen Ukraine so that it can take a better position at the next peace summit, he said.

In response to a reporter’s question, President Zelenskyy said that the weaknesses of some NATO allies could encourage the Russian president to continue the war.

He is not interested in his people, but only in power, said the Ukrainian president.

As for Ukraine’s application for NATO membership, he said there was no reason for Ukraine’s partners to be sceptical.

Maybe they are sceptical now, but they will not be if Ukraine becomes stronger. Now we are not a NATO member, and if we were, we would not be at war, he said.

Prime Minister Plenkovic emphasised that the Dubrovnik Declaration summarises the strong political will of the countries in this part of Europe “which, each in its own way, support Ukraine.”

“I am confident that this summit will also contribute to strengthening regional support for Ukraine,” he added.

Although it had previously been announced that Serbia would be represented at the summit by its foreign minister, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic finally arrived in Dubrovnik.

Vucic: We support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but…

Before the joint press conference of Zelenskyy and Plenkovic, Vucic made a statement to the press in which he emphasised that Serbia had succeeded in changing some important points of the Dubrovnik Declaration, including that the signatory states would not be obliged but rather encouraged to join the EU’s measures.

“We support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but at the same time we will not impose sanctions against the Russian Federation, because that is the policy Serbia is pursuing,” said Vucic, alluding to Kosovo’s independence.

The summit in Dubrovnik is the third summit in this format. The first took place in Athens in August 2022 and the second in Tirana in February 2024.

Numerous bilateral talks were held on the margins of the Dubrovnik summit between the delegations attending the meeting.

The summit, co-hosted by President Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Plenkovic, was also attended by Presidents Natasa Pirc-Musar of Slovenia, Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, Vjosa Osmani of Kosovo and Jakov Milatovic of Montenegro, as well as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece, Dimitar Glavchev of Bulgaria, Edi Rama of Albania, Borjana Kristo of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hristijan Mickoski of North Macedonia, as well as Foreign Ministers Mihai Popsoi of Moldova, Hakan Fidan of Turkey and Luminita Odobescu of Romania.