KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled his much anticipated “victory plan” on Wednesday, calling on his allies to take urgent steps to bolster Kyiv at a precarious moment in a bid to end the war next year.

As Moscow’s forces advance in the east and a bleak winter of power cuts looms, he told parliament his plan contained five main points that were in the hands of his allies, including an unconditional invite to join Nato now and weapons support.

In return, he offered a Western role in developing Ukraine’s mineral resources and said Ukrainian troops could enhance the security of Nato and replace some of the US forces in Europe.

“Together with our partners, we must change the circumstances so that the war ends. Regardless of what Putin wants, we must all change the circumstances so that Russia is forced to peace,” he told lawmakers and top officials.

Zelensky, who has unrelentingly called for a “fair” end to the war, says his plan is needed to force the Kremlin to negotiate in good faith, though he appeared to acknowledge in his speech that some allies see the war’s end game differently.

“We hear the word `negotiations’ from partners and the word`justice’ much less often. Ukraine is open to diplomacy, but honest (diplomacy),” he said.

His plan proposed establishing a “comprehensive non-nuclear strategic deterrence package” inside Ukraine to protect against threats from Russia and to destroy its military power. He did not elaborate, but said there was an additional secret addendum that he could not disclose.

The plan, he added, also envisaged a Western role investing in and jointly protecting Ukraine’s natural mineral resources from Russian attacks as well as post-war reconstruction pledges.

Test of political will

The plan is a major test of the political will of Kyiv’s key allies, who have poured in many billions of dollars of weapons to support Ukraine, while navigating fears of an “escalation” in a war against a country with the world’s largest nuclear arsenal.

Nato has said Ukraine is heading for membership, but has stopped short of issuing an invitation.

The Kremlin said it was too early to comment in detail on Zelensky’s plan, but that Kyiv needed to “sober up” and realise the futility of the policies it was pursuing.

Russia’s own war effort has been boosted by what Zelensky said were North Korean transfers of arms and personnel. Earlier this year, the West and Ukraine said Iran had sent Russia close-range ballistic missiles, something Moscow denied.

Outnumbered by Russian forces, Ukraine’s weary military has struggled to find a way to stop Moscow’s troops inching forward in the east, seizing devastated village after village and threatening the logistics hub of Pokrovsk.

The deep uncertainty from the looming change of power in the United States has made the situation harder still and next month’s election could propel Donald Trump, who has been consistently sceptical of Ukraine aid, back to the White House. The Republican former president has pledged to rapidly end the war before entering office if he is re-elected, an idea that Kyiv’s supporters fear could involve crushing concessions in the name of a quick deal.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2024