“Russia must lose the war against Ukraine,” says Zelensky, who rules out ceding territory…

Finally, Volodymyr Zelensky urged his Western allies to invite kyiv to join NATO as part of his “victory plan” to end the Russian invasion.

“The first point is an invitation from NATO, from now on [Vladimir] Putin must see that his geopolitical calculations are losing,” he said.

The Kremlin obviously does not plan to negotiate on the basis of the demands set out by Volodymyr Zelensky. He was quick to react, rejecting the famous “plan” and calling on Ukraine to “wake up”. “The only peace plan that can be is the understanding by the kyiv regime that its policy is without perspective and that it is necessary to wake up,” the Kremlin spokesperson told the press. Dmitry Peskov.

Volodymyr Zelensky also reiterates his request to the West to lift restrictions on long-range weapons and be able to strike Russia in depth.

In his speech, Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out ceding territory to Russia or accepting a freeze of the front line, believing that the Kremlin must lose the war launched in February 2022. “Russia must lose the war against Ukraine. There can be no “freeze” [du front]. There can be no exchange regarding Ukraine’s territory or its sovereignty,” he told MPs, adding that Ukraine and its allies must “force Russia to participate in a summit of the peace and to be ready to end the war.

Before doing so before the Council of Europe on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed his “victory plan” in a speech to Parliament on Wednesday after having approached his Western allies to convince them to help him defeat Russia.

“It is for all of us, the Ukrainians, that the victory plan was prepared,” declared the head of state before the deputies, according to a video broadcast on the presidency’s Facebook account.

He was released, but did not fail to tell about his ordeal in prison. Alexeï Moskalyov, a father, separated from his 14-year-old daughter for a drawing denouncing the Russian offensive in Ukraine and convicted of having “discredited” the army, found his freedom on Tuesday after having spent nineteen months in detention .

The affair, which became one of the symbols of the repression of voices critical of the conflict in Ukraine, shocked Russian society.

Alexei Moskaliov, 56, recounted his ordeal in prison in a video interview broadcast by OVD-Info. Shortly after his arrival in the prison camp, he says he was placed in a punishment cell where he spent two months. “A real torture cell,” he said.

Near Kursk, in Russia, the scene of a surprise offensive by the Ukrainian army in early August, euphoria has given way to skepticism. Two months later, kyiv soldiers are questioning this strategy, while Moscow’s troops are advancing on Ukrainian territory. “I don’t understand what the next plan is,” admits Serguiï, a Ukrainian soldier participating in the operation, to AFP.

One of the announced objectives was to ease pressure on the Donbass region (eastern Ukraine), where kyiv’s forces have been retreating for months. “Perhaps the enemy has retreated from other directions […] but we have not felt any significant changes here,” comments Oleksandre, a young soldier deployed near Toretsk, a town in Donbass that has been targeted for weeks.

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced on Tuesday
on social networks that he had invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to present his “victory plan” to defeat Russia at a European Union summit which is to take place this Thursday.

Military support for kyiv and strengthening Ukraine’s already battered energy sector are among the topics on the agenda of the meeting of leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union, which will be held in Brussels.

Fights on the fronts, bellicose declarations and diplomatic negotiations, follow with us the highlights of the conflict on the 966th day of the war in Ukraine.