Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his “victory plan” in Brussels on Thursday, insisting that his country, in difficulty on the battlefield, must be in a position of strength before any negotiations.
“Ukraine is ready to make a real place for diplomacy but, for that, we must be strong,” he told the leaders of the 27 member states before meeting later in the day with the 32 ministers of NATO Defense.
More than two and a half years after the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine is retreating, particularly on the eastern front of Donbass, where the Russian army claims almost every day the conquest of a new village, as it has again done Thursday morning.
After having already defended his plan in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin and Rome, the Ukrainian president revealed the main points on Wednesday before Parliament in kyiv.
Lifting restrictions on the use of weapons that the West supplies to Ukraine, deployment on Ukrainian territory of non-nuclear deterrent weapons… None of these requests has yet met with unanimous support from the Allies.
According to Mr. Zelensky, however, discussions with EU countries were positive. “After our very frank conversations, the majority of those who spoke (at the summit of 27) did so to support the plan,” he said at a press conference, without going into details. .
Dream of NATO membership
The plan presented by Mr. Zelensky also calls for immediately sending kyiv an invitation to join NATO, the only real guarantee of security for his country, according to the Ukrainian president.
But here again, you will have to be patient. Mark Rutte thus limited himself to recalling the “irreversible” nature of Ukraine’s path towards NATO. “Ukraine will be a member of NATO,” he repeated, but if “the question is when, I cannot answer at the moment.”
The United States, where the presidential election will take place on November 5, is refusing for the moment to go further.
As for Germany, its Chancellor Olaf Scholz “never said yes, and never said no,” according to Mr. Zelensky.
Concerning the Ukrainian plan, which will be “on the table” at the meeting of NATO ministers on Thursday evening, the new Secretary General of the Alliance judged on Wednesday that it was sending a “strong signal”. But, he immediately added, “that does not mean that I can say here that I support the whole plan.”
The Baltic countries were more enthusiastic, calling on their NATO and EU partners to support the plan.
“I hope that this plan will not be just a piece of paper and that it will be followed by actions and measures,” said Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur.
“It’s an existential war. Russia is an existential threat to Europe and I hope that member states will continue to support Ukraine,” declared Josep Borrell, head of EU diplomacy.
“Our hesitation”
But several other countries are more cautious, fearing an escalation with Russia or, more prosaically, for budgetary reasons. “Our hesitation is the best and most direct way to escalation,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said in Brussels on Thursday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Wednesday to “do everything” to prevent the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine, including by talking with Russian President Vladimir Putin, however in consultation with kyiv.
For his part, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country currently chairs the EU Council of Ministers, described the Ukrainian leader’s plan as “terrifying.”
“We are losing this war, this strategy is not working, it must be changed! “, he said on his Facebook page, calling for the opening of “immediate” negotiations with Russia, where he went in July during a very controversial “peace mission”.
