Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented to Parliament on Wednesday his “victory plan” with which he seeks to pressure his allies to “strengthen” kyiv’s position, militarily and diplomatically, with the aim of bringing Russia at the negotiating table. “If we start implementing this plan now, we may be able to end the war by next year at the latest,” he said.
Although the Ukrainian president revealed more details about the proposal, the broad outlines of which have been revealed in dribs and drabs in recent weeks, parts of the plan made public remain confidential. Zelensky first presented the initiative to his US counterpart Joe Biden in late September, and also plans to do so this Thursday at the European Council.
“This plan can be implemented. It depends on the partners. “It does not depend on Russia,” Zelensky said, adding that Russia “does not seek honest peace.” “We must change the circumstances for the war to end. It doesn’t matter what Putin wants. “We must all change the circumstances so that Russia is forced into peace. »
In this sense, he defended this plan as a path towards what he calls a “just peace”, which he identifies as a peace that meets kyiv’s conditions. And he acknowledged increased pressure to negotiate with Moscow. “I want to be frank with you about how the situation is being handled in some non-public communications with Ukraine. We hear the word “negotiations” from our partners, and the word “justice” is much less common. “Ukraine is open to diplomacy, but honest diplomacy,” he added.
Zelensky insisted his country was not prepared for a “frozen conflict” or to cede territory. “Russia must lose the war against Ukraine. And it is not a “freeze”. And this is not about trade with the territories or sovereignty of Ukraine,” he said. “Russia must forever lose control of Ukraine and even lose the desire for such control. This is a guarantee of life for Ukraine. And at the same time, it is a guarantee of peace for Europe.”
Throughout his speech, Zelensky pleaded for his country, exhausted after more than two and a half years of war, to remain united in the face of a difficult moment, as Moscow advances east, on the verge of a harsh winter after the bombing of its energy infrastructure and the uncertainty due to the crucial American elections which are approaching.
Five points and several secret annexes
As Zelensky explained in a speech in the House, after which he met with the leaders of the parliamentary groups, the proposal includes five geopolitical, military and economic points that require political decisions and weapons from the allies.
The first, highest on the list, is a measure that has so far met resistance in the West: an “unconditional” invitation to Ukraine to join NATO. “Russia has for decades exploited geopolitical uncertainty in Europe, including the fact that Ukraine is not a NATO member. This is what prompted Russia to invade our security. However, the fact that Ukraine is invited to join NATO can be truly fundamental for peace,” the Ukrainian president said on Wednesday.
“We understand that NATO membership is a question of the future, not the present,” he said, adding that an invitation would show Russian President Vladimir Putin the error of “his geopolitical calculations.” . “An invitation is a firm decision that requires only determination. And today, the invitation symbolizes much more than NATO. For Ukraine, the decision on the NATO issue also means that European integration is inevitable and that there is no alternative to democracy in Ukraine.”
As published by Reuters, kyiv’s ambassador to NATO said Ukraine wanted this invitation to arrive before Biden leaves the White House after the November 5 election. The military alliance has said Ukraine will join its ranks, but maintains it cannot join while it is at war and has refused to set a deadline for joining. Most members, including the United States, have shown no willingness to invite Ukraine to join the organization at this time.
The second point of the Ukrainian plan, which includes a secret annex to which only allies with military potential will have access, concerns armament issues, which Zelensky defined as “the irreversible strengthening of Ukrainian defense” and “the reversal of the situation. the war against the Russian Federation”, that is to say bringing the war to Russian territory so that Russian public opinion “feels” the consequences and increases its pressure on the Kremlin. He discusses the Ukrainian offensive in the Russian region of Kursk which began in August and pleads for the continuation of the operations of his army in order to prevent the creation of “safe zones” for Russian troops in Ukraine.
As expected, Zelensky also included in his plan his request to Western partners to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons “on the entire territory of Ukraine occupied by Russia and on Russian territory – in military infrastructure “. The Biden administration has so far been reluctant to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons to attack military targets on Russian territory.
Likewise, the Ukrainian plan provides for “joint defensive operations” with neighboring European countries “to shoot down Russian missiles and drones within range of the air shield” of the allies. kyiv wants Poland to actively intervene by shooting down missiles, both in its own airspace and in western Ukraine. So far, Warsaw has not changed its policy.
The plan also calls for more air defenses, long-range missiles, drones and “other means of destruction.” Zelensky did not specify the type, but Zelensky’s adviser Mikhailo Podolyak told the The Wall Street Journal that the plan included requesting more ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles. He also asks kyiv’s allies to transmit information “in real time” in order to undermine Russia’s war potential.
The third point was defined by Zelensky as non-nuclear “deterrence”, although he did not go into detail and also has a secret annex which, according to the Ukrainian leader, the leaders of the United States, from the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany have already received it.
In this section, he proposes deploying on Ukrainian soil “a vast non-nuclear strategic deterrent program which will be sufficient” to protect the country, in his words, “from any military threat from Russia”. This, he said, would narrow Russia’s options “to joining an honest diplomatic process to end the war, or being guaranteed the loss of the ability to pursue a war of aggression.” As he said, this point “can be guaranteed, in particular, by financing within the framework of security agreements” that kyiv has already signed with many Western countries.
The fourth point concerns “Ukraine’s strategic and economic potential” and also has a secret annex. Here it is proposed to sign a special agreement on joint protection and investment in the production and use of resources with the European Union and the United States.
“Critical resource deposits in Ukraine, as well as Ukraine’s globally important energy and food production potential, are among Russia’s main aggressive targets in this war,” Zelensky said. “Ukraine proposes that the United States, with designated partners, including the European Union, of which Ukraine will be a part, and other partners around the world, enter into a special agreement to jointly protect critical resources of Ukraine, jointly invest and use the corresponding resources. economic potential. »
The Ukrainian president assured that “this is an agreement that will organically complement and strengthen the current system of economic pressure on Russia, that is, all existing sanctions, caps on oil prices, export restrictions and other measures.
The fifth point is devoted to the post-war period. Zelensky argued that Ukrainian experience should be used for the defense of Europe and proposed replacing “certain contingents” of the US military in Europe with Ukrainian units after the war.
What Western partners and Russia are saying
So far, most Western allies have not publicly expressed their opinion on the Ukrainian proposal. For now, caution seems to reign. The United States Department of State said the plan includes “a series of productive steps,” but, as reported by The Wall Street Journal By the end of September, some of those who knew the outline were “unimpressed.” The same newspaper reports that the White House is concerned about the lack of a clear strategy to defeat Russia.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the plan would be discussed at meetings this week in Brussels and said it was not focused solely on Ukraine’s membership in the Atlantic Alliance. “The ‘victory plan’ is not just an invitation to become a member of NATO. There are more elements to the victory plan, as President Zelensky explained to his parliament today. And often it’s still part of an ongoing debate,” he commented.
The Kremlin, for its part, said it considered the Ukrainian president’s plan “illusory” and Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at his daily press conference that kyiv must “return to reason and understand the reasons behind it. this led to the conflict in Ukraine.”
