The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskydesigned a script with three acts. First, during a trip to Washington at the end of September, he presented his “Plan for Victory” in Ukraine to his American counterpart, Joe Biden. Since then, beyond speculation and unconfirmed leaks, the content of the plan has remained secretly. Zelensky himself acknowledged that this was only a starting point.
This Wednesday took place on second act: For the first time, the president revealed some details of the plan during a session of the Ukrainian Parliament. The third act is also expected to take place this week, where present the document to European Union leaders at Thursday’s European Council summit in Brussels.
Perhaps the full content of the proposal will then be known, but for now only a few features put forward by Zelensky today are known. Precisely, the Ukrainian leader began his speech at the Verkhovna Rada by explaining that the plan had five pointsbut it can only reveal the content of two of them.
The first includes a request that is not new: the immediate invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, even if the war continues. “We understand that NATO membership is a question of the future and not of the present,” he said, while specifying that a formal invitation would show Russian President Vladimir Putin the error of “his geopolitical calculations”.
For the moment the The military alliance said Ukraine would join its ranks and that the path was “irreversible”, but maintains that I can’t enter while at war and refused to set a deadline for membership. Indeed, this Wednesday, the new Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, declared that “he cannot say that he supports Zelensky’s entire plan. “That would be a bit difficult.”he stressed during a press conference preceding the meeting of NATO defense ministers which will also be held on Thursday in Brussels. Despite this, Rutte reiterated the allies’ strong support for Ukraine.
A package of deterrence
The second point of the plan, which includes several sections (one of which is confidential), focuses on Ukraine’s military and defensive capabilities. In this document, Zelensky asks his Western partners for a list of weapons that kyiv needs to strengthen its positions. Also more anti-aircraft defenses to protect with safeguards against Russian attacks. “Ukraine offers to deploy on its territory a non-nuclear strategic deterrent package. This will be enough to protect Ukraine against any Russian military threat,” he explained in statements reported by the local press.
In his wish list, the Ukrainian president also asked allies to lift the ban on use weapons on Russian territory long range they provided. With this request – which was predictable – Ukraine proposes to prevent the enemy from creating “safety zones” and Russian public opinion “feels” the consequences of the war and increases its pressure on the Kremlin. To date, the Biden administration was reluctant to authorize the use of weapons supplied by the United States to attack military targets on Russian territory.
Ukrainian President Zelensky speaks to lawmakers during a parliamentary session in Kyiv.
Likewise, the “Plan for Victory” calls on Western countries to transmit information about Russia to kyiv. “in real time”get it back Kyiv Post. In addition, he demands that neighboring countries – Romania and Poland – participate from their territories in shooting down Russian drones and missiles inside Ukraine if they approach their airspace. On paper, These are ambitious goalsbut Zelensky is convinced that if they continue, the war could end by the end of next year.
A “Victory Plan” which, in the eyes of Moscow, “This pushes NATO into direct conflict with Russia.” This was stated on Wednesday by the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, who is convinced that “will lead to disaster for the Ukrainian people.”
