Ukraine’s victory plan: bold and speedy steps needed from allies

KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the victory plan he will present to U.S. President Joe Biden next week requires bold steps by Kyiv’s partners this year.
“Those are specific actions that depend exclusively on partners,” Zelenskyy told a group of journalists Friday evening, without giving substantive details about the plan. “So no one would tell me that it depends on the Russian side,” he added.
Zelenskyy said the victory plan has a list of concrete and necessary steps Ukraine needs its partners to fulfill by the end of December. In broad strokes, he said the plan addresses strengthening Kyiv’s weapons capabilities, Ukraine’s place in the global security architecture, economic cooperation, among other issues.
The plan is “a bridge to any stage of ending the war. A bridge that strengthens Ukraine. Strengthens it politically, in terms of weapons, and in understanding what our future will be after the war,” the Ukrainian president said.
On his U.S. trip next week, Zelenskyy will meet with Biden as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and members of the U.S. Congress. Zelenskyy said he also plans to meet Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. He said he plans to discuss his victory plan with them all.
After the presentation in the U.S., the victory plan will be open to everyone, including “societies in different countries,” and even Russia, Zelenskyy said. “This plan strengthens Ukraine and they have to see it,” he said.
In the few details Zelenskyy gave about the plan Friday evening, he said it includes granting Kyiv permission to use long-range Western weapons against targets in Russian territory. It also includes the Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region and the role of that operation in Kyiv’s military strategy, Zelenskyy said.
“Partners often say, ‘We will be with Ukraine until its victory’ — now we clearly show how Ukraine can win and what is needed for this. Particular things,” Zelenskyy said.
“Let’s do all this today, while all the officials who want the victory of Ukraine are in official positions,” the Ukrainian leader pleaded.
Trump has dodged the question of if he wants Ukraine to win the war with Russia. His running mate, JD Vance, has said that Ukraine would have to cede territories and forget about NATO membership in order to end the conflict. The meeting with Trump is envisaged for Sept. 26 or 27, Zelenskyy said.
“The victory plan, this bridge to strengthening Ukraine, can contribute to more productive future diplomatic meetings with Russia. Without that, we will live the way we live now and keep fighting,” Zelenskyy said.
But Moscow on Saturday said it would not participate in any follow-up to the peace summit held in June, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling the process was a “fraud.”
“This process itself has nothing to do with a settlement,” Zakharova wrote in a statement on the Telegram. “It is another manifestation of the fraud by the Anglo-Saxons and their Ukrainian puppets.”
Zelenskyy was reportedly scheduled on Sunday to visit the Pennsylvania ammunition factory that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
The Ukrainian leader is expected to go to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant to kick off his week in the U.S., the Associated Press reported, citing two U.S. officials and a third familiar with Zelenskyy’s schedule.