Ukraine will join NATO, but timetable not yet set – NATO Secretary General. The Russians attacked with 56 drones: 22 were shot down, but 5 strikes hit infrastructure. Zelensky presented a victory plan at the European Council meeting.
Russians attacked with 56 drones: 22 shot down, but 5 strikes hit infrastructure
On the night of October 17, Russian forces attacked Ukraine with 56 strike drones, unidentified drones and a Kh-59 cruise missile. 22 enemy drones were shot down, 27 were lost due to interference, and 2 were directed towards Belarus. However, there have been successful strikes.
The Ukrainian Air Force said: “As a result of the air battles, 22 enemy drones were shot down in the regions of Sumy, Kyiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Odesa and Ternopil. Two drones left the airspace in the direction of Belarus, 27 strike and unidentified drones were lost due to electronic countermeasures of the Defense Forces. »
It was also reported that 5 drone strikes hit infrastructure in areas close to the frontline.
The missile was fired from the airspace of Russia’s Kursk region, and the drones were launched from the Russian cities of Kursk, Oryol and Prymorsko-Akhtarsk.
Ukrainian aviation, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare units and mobile defense groups were mobilized to repel this attack.
Ukraine will join NATO, but timetable not yet set – NATO Secretary General
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Ukraine would join the Alliance as the 33rd or 34th member in the future.
Mark Rutte was speaking before the meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on October 17, reports “Yevropeïska Pravda”.
Rutte spoke the day after President Volodymyr Zelensky presented Ukraine’s “victory plan”, one of the points of which is obtaining an invitation to join NATO. Rutte declined to say whether Alliance member states were more supportive of the proposal.
“At the moment it looks like Ukraine will be the 33rd member. But it is possible that another country will get ahead of it. But Ukraine will be a member of NATO in the future. This is what we decided in Washington. So the question now is when.”
According to him, the allies are currently focusing on efforts to prepare Ukraine for membership. “If the question is ‘When?’, I can’t answer that yet. But we are working on all these aspects so that Ukraine will one day become a member of NATO,” Rutte added.
Zelensky’s “victory plan” consists of five points and essentially aims to force Russia to make peace.
On October 16, Zelensky presented his victory plan to the Verkhovna Rada, consisting of five points and three secret annexes.
The first point of the plan is to invite Ukraine to join NATO now.
US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said on October 16 that NATO does not plan to invite Ukraine “in the near term,” although this is mentioned in the first point of the Zelensky’s plan.
Zelensky presents Victory Plan at European Council meeting
On Thursday, October 17, President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke at the European Council meeting and presented the “victory plan,” or a strategy to force Russia to engage in real diplomacy.
Zelensky stressed that European unity is also a weapon, guaranteeing security not only for Ukraine, but for all European peoples.
He highlighted the need for a second Peace Summit to end the war and announced a framework formula for peace, which covers all aspects of peacemaking.
“We have already held four meetings on the points of the Peace Formula. Today, in France, the fifth is being held. I thank France for its organization. In November, we will prepare a comprehensive document based on the Peace Formula and share it with everyone, including the Russians, at the Peace Summit,” he said.
Zelensky added that Russia will only be ready for “real diplomacy” after realizing that it cannot achieve anything by force. He asked summit participants to help him implement his plan.
“If we start now and follow the ‘victory plan’, we can end this war by next year,” he insisted.
The Ukrainian president stressed that the plan aims to strengthen not only Ukraine, but the entire Euro-Atlantic community.
“Russia will only turn to diplomacy when it sees that force will bring it nothing. We must create the conditions to end this war,” he insisted. Zelensky called on European leaders to support his victory plan and concluded: “Ukraine is ready for real diplomacy. But for this we must be strong. Forcibly imposed truces, instead of a just peace, have never guaranteed security. No one is happy when war returns.”
