Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his long-awaited “victory plan” to the country’s parliament today, urging his war-weary country to remain united at a crucial time ahead of a November 5 presidential election by key ally Kiev. of the USA.
As Russian troops advance in the east and a difficult winter with energy shortages looms, Zelensky told lawmakers his plan includes five key points based on Kiev’s allies, including an unconditional invitation to join NATO and specific arms support.
“Together with our partners, we must change the conditions so that the war ends. No matter what Putin wants. We must all change the conditions so that Russia is forced into peace,” he told MPs and top officials.
In his third point he emphasized the need for Ukraine to acquire a non-nuclear deterrent, which he said would be sufficient to destroy Russian military power. He did not provide further details.
The plan for the defense of natural mineral resources of Ukraine
The plan, he said, also envisions a Western role in defending Ukraine’s natural mineral resources from Russian attacks, as well as post-war reconstruction commitments.
“It is for all of us, Ukrainians, that the victory plan was prepared,” the head of state said before parliamentarians, according to a video posted on the presidency’s Facebook account.
The Ukrainian president said that if his “victory plan” is implemented now, it may be possible to end the war with Russia by next year at the latest.
The “victory plan” depends on urgent action and unity among Ukraine’s partners and aims to strengthen Ukraine’s position enough to end the war, he said.
“Russia must lose the war against Ukraine. There can be no ‘freezing’ of the forehead. There can be no change regarding Ukraine’s territory or its sovereignty,” he said, adding that Ukraine and its allies must “force Russia to participate in a peace summit and be ready to put an end to the war.”
“He ruled out the possibility of ceding territory to Russia to end the war” Zelensky
The speech was attended by his top military and political figures, as well as MPs, some of whom occasionally stood up to applaud.
Zelensky ruled out ceding territory to Russia to end the war
Ukraine’s president ruled out ceding ground or accepting a front-line freeze to end the war with Russia as he presented his “plan for victory” to parliament in Kiev, calling on the West to invite Ukraine to become a member of NATO.
“Russia must lose the war against Ukraine. There can be no ‘freezing’ (of the forehead). There can be no exchange regarding Ukraine’s territory or its sovereignty,” he told parliamentarians.
Zelensky called on his allies to “force Russia to participate in a peace summit and prepare to end the war,” preempting the deployment of nuclear deterrents on Ukrainian soil.
The use of long-range weapons
The Ukrainian leader again demanded that Kiev’s Western allies “remove restrictions on the use of long-range weapons in all Ukrainian territory held by Russia and on Russian territory,” as well as continuing aid to “equip the reserve brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces”.
Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he will present his “victory plan” at the EU summit in Brussels tomorrow, Thursday, at the invitation of European Council President Charles Michel.
“Tomorrow, I will publicly present the victory plan during a meeting of the European Council,” he said.
The Ukrainian president also criticized China, North Korea and Iran’s support for Russia’s war effort, denouncing a “coalition of criminals”.
Lacking the men and resources to hold out on the eastern front, where Russia is slowly advancing on the ground, Ukraine hopes for an end to the war sometime in 2025, but still sees its cities and energy infrastructure pounded by Moscow .
The Russian military today announced the capture of two more villages, Nevelske in Luhansk province, and Krasniy Yar, about 12 kilometers from Pokrovsk, a rail and road hub for Ukrainian forces.
Trying to keep Ukrainians united
After two-and-a-half years of war, Zelensky tried to convince Ukraine’s exhausted public that the war could end soon and to stress the importance of Ukrainians staying united as the challenges of the war pile up.
“We achieved and are achieving results in battles thanks to our unity. Therefore, please do not lose unity,” the Ukrainian president noted.
Ukraine faces both hardship and uncertainty ahead of the US election that could return Donald Trump to the White House.
The Republican former president has pledged to quickly end the war before taking office if he wins the election, an idea that supporters of Kiev fear will involve major concessions aimed at a quick deal.
Zelensky met with US President Joe Biden, his key ally, in Washington in late September to present the plan. On a tour of Europe afterwards, he met with the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Germany to discuss the plan.
Rute distances himself from Zelensky’s “victory plan”.
For his part, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte expressed reservations about the “victory plan” in the Ukraine war, presented by Volodymyr Zelensky. He limited himself to promising financial aid, but refrained from responding to the request to join the alliance.
Mark Rutte stressed that NATO member states are “firmly on track” to meet their pledge of 40 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine by 2024, while distancing themselves from the Zelenskyi plan. Moscow, for its part, has warned that if this plan is implemented, it will bring NATO into direct conflict with Russia.
In a press conference he gave, the governor of NATO stressed that Alliance members have so far raised about half of the pledged funding.
“We are firmly on track to deliver €40 billion”
“I am pleased to report that we are firmly on track to deliver the €40 billion we pledged for next year,” he stressed, adding: “I can announce today that NATO allies have committed €20.9 billion to military aid to Ukraine in the first half of 2024 and Allies are well on track to meet their commitments for the rest of the year.”
Referring to the “victory plan” of the Ukrainian leader, he called it a “good sign”, but underlined that he is not able to support this plan in its entirety, as things stand.
“It is of course a strong message from Zelensky and his team that they have prepared this plan… This does not mean that here I can say that I support the plan as a whole. That would be a bit difficult, because there are a lot of issues that we need to understand better,” Mark Rutte said.
He explained that this plan will be on the agenda at the NATO ministerial meeting, which starts tomorrow Thursday in Brussels. He reiterated the position that the process of Ukraine becoming a future member of the Alliance is “irreversible” and that Ukraine is closer to NATO than ever.
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