MONITORING (SW) – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travels to the United States to set out a “victory plan” to his closest ally this week, in an urgent attempt to influence White House policy on Ukraine’s war with Russia no matter who wins the U.S. elections in November.
The Ukrainian leader has said he wants to present the plan to President Joe Biden and his two potential successors, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, during the trip, which will see Zelenskyy addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy has said that if the plan is backed by the West, it will have a broad impact on Moscow, including a psychological one that could help compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war diplomatically.
“The Victory Plan envisages quick and concrete steps by our strategic partners – from now until the end of December,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday.
He added that the plan would act as a “bridge” to a second Ukraine-led summit on peace that Kyiv wants to hold and invite Russia to later this year.
There is no alternative to peace, Zelenskyy has said, “no freezing of the war or any other manipulations that would simply postpone Russian aggression to another stage”.
Yet the two sides remain far apart.
Zelenskyy wants Ukraine inside NATO and the European Union and Russia driven from all Ukrainian territory, though he says the latter aim can be achieved diplomatically. Putin says peace talks can only begin if Kyiv abandons swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine to Russia and drops its NATO membership plan.
Zelenskyy’s trip comes at a perilous juncture for Ukraine. A Trump victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election could prompt a reset of Washington’s policy on Ukraine, which relies heavily on U.S. military and financial support.
During a TV debate, Trump refused to say if he wanted Ukraine to defeat Russia and said he would try to end the war before taking office if he wins. Harris accused Trump of seeking Kyiv’s swift and unconditional capitulation.
As the election nears, Kyiv has put on a show of strength, rapidly seizing land in a high-risk Aug. 6 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, touting new weapons including a “drone missile” and ballistic weapon and launching major drone strikes.
One attack caused a massive blast at an ammo dump in Russia’s Tver region last Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Russia has ramped up drone and missile attacks, taken receipt of Iranian ballistic missiles, according to the West, ordered an increase in the size of its army, moved to change its nuclear doctrine and stepped up its eastern offensive.
