Volodymyr Zelensky began on Sunday what he considers his most important international trip. The Ukrainian president landed in New York with his “Plan for Victory” under his arm, a list of decisions that must be taken with his allies before the end of this year and that will mean the defeat of Russia, according to Zelensky. “This autumn the future of the war will be decided,” said the Ukrainian head of state in a recorded message on Sunday, “together with our partners we can strengthen our positions enough for our victory, for a joint victory.”
The Victory Plan is a document with four key points that the president’s office has prepared in secret. Zelensky has reiterated that this is because he first wants to discuss and reformulate the content in the meetings he plans to hold on September 26 with the president of the United States, Joe Biden, with his vice president and Democratic candidate in the presidential elections, Kamala Harris, and also with his Republican rival, Donald Trump. Zelensky said that the plan will later be discussed with the rest of the powers that support him, without specifying which ones. Zelensky is also expected to participate on Tuesday before the United Nations Security Council and on Wednesday before its General Assembly.
On 20 September, Zelensky met with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, without this document being on the agenda of the meeting, despite the fact that the German announced an extraordinary measure of support for kyiv: a loan of 35 billion euros to be paid with frozen Russian assets, and which the Ukrainian government has already confirmed that it will spend, above all, on its defence budget.
The Ukrainian president has prioritized the United States because Washington’s future support could change if Trump wins the elections in November. Trump and his team question the supply of weapons to kyiv and insist on opening peace negotiations with Russia by giving Putin conquered territories.
NATO membership
Zelensky will appeal to Biden’s legacy at the end of his term, ensuring Ukraine’s long-term defensive potential and laying the foundations for defeating Russia, the Ukrainian leader explained on September 20 at a meeting with American and British media. The plan would include Biden’s authorization to use NATO long-range missiles on Russian territory, something the US president has so far refused to do. Ukrainian media assume that the Victory Plan also calls for Ukraine’s entry into NATO in a matter of months, i.e. in 2025.
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Allied powers such as the United States, France, Turkey and Germany have been reluctant to grant Ukraine access to the Atlantic Alliance now because it could mean a direct confrontation with Russia. The British newspaper The TimesOn Sunday, the US said that if it is not granted access to NATO, kyiv is considering working out a special long-term defence agreement with the NATO alliance to avoid losing support in the event of a Trump election victory.
The philosophy of this Plan for Victory, as discussed by Zelensky in several public interventions, would coincide in part with the military assistance agreements for the next 10 years that Ukraine has signed with its main North American and European allies, including Spain. With this proposal, kyiv seeks long-term international support in the military, economic and diplomatic fields to make it clear to Putin that not only can he not win the war, but that he has no alternative but to abandon Ukraine because, otherwise, Russia’s own stability will be at stake, due to its international isolation, but also due to the consequences of the military offensive.
The massive Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian military targets, the possibility of long-range missile strikes from Ukraine, and the occupation of part of the Russian province of Kursk, the latest coup by Zelensky, are already good examples of the threats looming over Moscow.
“It would be a horrible idea if Biden does not support the plan,” the Ukrainian president said on September 22 in an interview with The New Yorker“[That]would mean that Biden does not want to end the war in any way that would deny Russia victory.”[eso[querríadecirqueBidennoquierefinalizarlaguerradeningunamaneraqueniegueaRusialavictoria”
The Ukrainian president insists that Russia’s defeat means respect for international law and Ukrainian sovereignty, that is, the withdrawal of invading troops from all the territory conquered since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. But Zelensky has already hinted that this will not be achieved on the battlefield, but at the negotiating table.
The Victory Plan runs parallel to the peace proposal that Ukraine is finalizing this year with more than 80 states to jointly present to Putin. “The Victory Plan, this bridge to strengthen Ukraine, can contribute to more productive future diplomatic meetings with Russia,” Zelensky explained last Friday. The so-called Ukrainian Peace Formula contains 10 points and the most sensitive one, that of “territorial integrity,” is being coordinated by the Chilean government.
kyiv has lamented the lack of more support in Latin America. Zelensky has been lavish in his criticism of the Brazilian government this summer for the dialogue initiative between Ukraine and Russia that it is promoting together with China. “Do we have to give up our land, forget that they are killing our people? What kind of compromise is that? It is destructive, it is just a political statement,” Zelensky told the Brazilian newspaper on September 12. MetropolisesThe Kremlin has rejected Ukraine’s peace proposal, which, in addition to the withdrawal of the entire territory, proposes the establishment of a war crimes tribunal for the invader.
Pressure is also mounting in Europe on the two sides to open up to talks on ending the war. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted in September that a path to peace must be found as soon as possible. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski caused a stir on 18 September by proposing at a conference in kyiv that the Crimean peninsula be made a UN protectorate for 20 years, after which a referendum be held for its population to decide whether it wants to be part of Russia or Ukraine. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued a statement criticising Sikorski and pointing out that Crimea is sovereignty of Ukraine.
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