Ukrainian president heads to EU, NATO to seek backing for his ‘victory plan’

BRUSSELS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that support from his embattled nation’s Western allies is key to his “victory plan” to end the country’s devastating war with Russia as he laid out details of the plan to European Union leaders.
He told reporters the plan aims “to strengthen Ukraine” and pave the way for a diplomatic solution to end the conflict on Europe’s eastern flank.
“I think that this plan doesn’t depend on Russian will, only on the will of our partners,” he said before addressing leaders at an EU summit.
Zelenskyy was later shuttling across Brussels to meet with NATO defence ministers. The EU is a key supporter of Ukraine, a candidate member of the 27-nation bloc, as it fights Russia’s invasion that began more than 2 1/2 years ago.
Zelenskyy outlined the five-point plan to Ukraine’s parliament on Wednesday without disclosing confidential elements that have been presented in private to key allies, including the United States.
The Institute for the Study of War in Washington said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to draw out the war and he believes “that Russian forces can outlast Western support for Ukraine and collapse Ukrainian resistance by winning a war of attrition”.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was muted in his response to the plan on Wednesday.
On Thursday he said that Kyiv can rest “absolutely assured that 32 allies are united in making sure that collectively, we will do whatever is needed to make sure that Ukraine can prevail, that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will not get his way”.
Rutte reiterated that Ukraine’s place is among NATO’s ranks, but he would not say when it might join. Zelenskyy insists that a membership invitation is central to his “victory plan” and would provide his country with the ultimate security guarantee to protect it from Russia.
“Ukraine will be a member of NATO in the future,” Rutte said. “The question is exactly about the when.’ I cannot answer that now.”
However, Rutte said, Putin must understand that “we are in this, if necessary, for the long haul. And obviously we want to be in a place where Zelenskyy and Ukraine, from a position of strength, is able to start talks with Russia”.
Major points of the plan include an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO and permission to use Western-supplied longer-range missiles to strike military targets deep inside Russia, steps that have been met with reluctance by Kyiv’s allies so far.
Agencies