Friday, October 18, 2024 - Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has presented his ‘victory’ plan to the Ukrainian parliament and says its aim is to seek a just peace to the war.
The plan consists of five main points and
three secret annexes.
“Ukraine's victory plan is a plan to
strengthen our state and strengthen our positions. To be strong enough to end
the war,” Zelenskyy said, adding: "If we start moving with this concrete
plan of victory now, we may manage to end the war no later than next year.”
There is a race to get traction on the
prospect of ending the war on favourable terms for Ukraine at a time when
Russian forces are making slow but steady progress along the front lines, and
future support for Ukraine is in doubt thanks to next month's U.S. presidential
election.
The idea of the victory plan is to
ensure that Ukraine gets iron-clad security guarantees from its allies and is
well-armed to prevent Russia from using any pause in the fighting to rearm and
then attack again.
“This plan can be implemented. It depends
on the partners ... it certainly does not depend on Russia,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy has already presented his plan to
U.S. and European leaders although so far the reaction from Kyiv's allies has
not been encouraging.
The Kremlin has said that "the
special military operation must end with the fulfilment of all our previously
set objectives," according to spokesperson Dmitry `Peskov.
Moscow's conditions amount to Kyiv's
capitulation, demanding Ukraine withdraw from Russia-claimed areas, abandon
intentions to join NATO, guarantee rights to Russian speakers, demilitarize and
"denazify."
Below is Zelenskyy’s plan:
1. Invitation to join NATO Even though
actual membership is still an issue for the future, an invitation to join would
send a strong signal to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
"An invitation is a strong decision that requires nothing but
determination,” the Ukrainian president said.
However, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte
would not say if he’d rally allies to support Zelenskyy's push for an
invitation.“The victory plan is not only about an invitation to become a member
of NATO. The victory plan has more elements,” Rutte told reporters on
Wednesday. “The next steps [are] not just on this issue, but on the general
content of the victory plan.”
2. More weapons faster with no restrictions
on their use
Ukraine has prepared a list of weapons to
protect itself and to bring “war close to home for the Kremlin.”
It includes training and air defence
capabilities to deter Russian attacks, real-time satellite data from allies,
ending all restrictions on the use of donated weapons to strike inside Russia
and help from allies in shooting down missiles and drones over Ukrainian
territory.
Many of those steps have been blocked over
Western fears of crossing Putin‘s red lines, but Zelenskyy argued that
Ukraine's advance into Russia's Kursk region showed that Putin was fluffing.
“Thanks to the Kursk operation, we saw that
Putin doesn't have enough strength to hold his own when we push really hard,”
he said.
3. Deterrence
Ukraine proposes to deploy on its soil a
comprehensive non-nuclear strategic deterrence package that will be sufficient
to protect Ukraine from any military threat from Russia. Faced with that,
Moscow would either join an honest diplomatic process for a just end to the
war, or it would face no longer being able to continue to fight thanks to the
aid being given to Ukraine.
The exact weapons were not revealed by
Zelenskyy in his speech to parliament, but he said leaders in the U.S.,
Germany, France and the U.K. know Kyiv's asks.
4. Strategic economic potential
Ukraine proposes partners from the European
Union and the U.S. sign a special agreement on common use of Ukraine’s critical
resources, like lithium, gas, titanium and others, and produce energy together
in the future.
5. Post-war perspectives
Ukraine would bolster European security
thanks to its battle-hardened military.
"If the partners agree, we envisage
replacing certain military contingents of the U.S. armed forces stationed in
Europe with Ukrainian units. After the war,” Zelenskyy said. “Ukrainians have
proven that they can be a force that Russian evil cannot overcome.”
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