Volodymyr Zelensky reveals his victory plan to end the war in Ukraine

After months of secret preparation and a European tour, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, unveiled, Wednesday October 16, his “victory plan” during a highly anticipated speech to Parliament, in which he ruled out any territorial concessions to Russia and called on the West to step up its aid.

So many red rags for Moscow, which immediately rejected the Ukrainian leader’s proposals. “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”Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the press.

This plan, supposed to result in a “fair and quick end” current 2025, consists of five points and three secret annexes. “The first four are war time to end it. The fifth point concerns the guarantee of security after the war”underlined the Ukrainian head of state. In this plan, he notably rejects the idea of ​​ceding territories to Moscow in exchange for peace, despite a critical lack of men and resources for the Ukrainian army. “Russia must lose the war against Ukraine. There can be no “freeze” [du front]. There can be no exchange regarding the territory of Ukraine or its sovereignty”he declared.

kyiv and its allies must “force Russia to participate in a peace summit”he insisted, a summit that he would like to organize in November but whose date remains uncertain. Moscow would be invited, which had not been the case during a first meeting of this summit, in June. For Mr. Zelensky, it is about giving Moscow the choice between “an honest diplomatic process” and having to face the means of military deterrence that Ukraine will have thanks to the West.

Join NATO

To do this, he is asking his Western allies for non-nuclear deterrents, the ability to strike deep into Russian territory and an invitation to join NATO. “Ukraine proposes to deploy on its territory a comprehensive set of non-nuclear strategic deterrent measures, which will be sufficient to protect Ukraine from any military threat from Russia”he said Wednesday. This point is detailed in a “secret annex” which was presented in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany.

He again demanded that the lifting of “restrictions on the use of long-range weapons throughout Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory and on Russian territory”as well as continued Western aid to train and equip “reserve brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces”. The West refuses to authorize kyiv to freely use the missiles they deliver towards Russian territory, fearing an escalation, while Mr. Putin has several times threatened to use nuclear weapons.

Mr. Zelensky, who will present his plan on Thursday at a European Union summit, also asked NATO to invite his country to join the Alliance, even if membership itself may be more late. “The first point is an invitation from NATO, starting now. [Vladimir] Putin must see that his geopolitical calculations are losing”declared Mr. Zelensky, Russia having launched its invasion in February 2022 in particular to prevent a rapprochement between kyiv and the Atlantic Alliance.

On September 22, the Ukrainian president presented his plan to American President Joe Biden. But, so far, the United States has made no announcement, particularly on the use of long-range weapons. During this visit, Volodymyr Zelensky also urged the UN Security Council to “force Russia into peace”after more than two and a half years of a conflict which left tens of thousands of civilian and military dead.