The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyhas designed a script with three acts. First, on a trip to Washington in late 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 it was just a starting point.
This Wednesday took place the 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 expected to also be held this week, when present the document to the leaders of the European Union at Thursday’s European Council summit in Brussels.
Perhaps then the full content of the proposal will be known, but for the moment only a few strokes advanced today by Zelensky are known. Precisely, the Ukrainian leader began his speech in the Verkhovna Rada by explaining that the plan has 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 membership in NATO is a question of the future, not of the present,” he said, but he clarified that a formal invitation would show the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the error of “his geopolitical calculations”.
For the moment the military alliance has declared that Ukraine will join its ranks and that the path is “irreversible”, but maintains that can’t get in while at war and has refused to set a deadline for accession.
A deterrence package
The second point of the plan, which includes several headings (one of them confidential), is focused on Ukraine’s military and defensive capabilities. In it, Zelensky asks his Western partners for a list of weapons that kyiv needs to reinforce positions. Also more anti-aircraft defenses to protect with guarantees from Russian attacks. “Ukraine proposes to deploy on its territory a non-nuclear strategic deterrence package. It will be enough to protect Ukraine against any military threat from Russia,” he explained in statements reported by the local press.
In his wish list, the Ukrainian president has also requested that the allies lift the ban on use weapons on Russian territory long range that they have supplied. With this request – which was to be expected – Ukraine proposes preventing 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 has been reticent to grant permission to use weapons supplied by the United States to attack military targets on Russian territory.
Likewise, the ‘Plan for Victory’ calls on Western countries to pass on intelligence information about Russia to kyiv. “in real time”pick up the Kyiv Post. In addition, it asks that neighboring countries – Romania and Poland – participate from their territories in the shooting down of Russian drones and missiles inside Ukraine if they approach their airspace. On paper, They are ambitious goalsbut Zelensky is confident that if they continue, the war could end by the end of next year.
A ‘Plan for Victory’ that, in the eyes of Moscow, “is pushing NATO towards direct conflict with Russia.” This was stated this Wednesday by the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, who is convinced that “will lead to disaster for the Ukrainian people.”
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