Ukraine war: Zelenskyy presents victory plan to EU leaders
October 17, 2024
"When I look at the plan, I see the decisions we, the West, were not able to deliver in the past months or even years," said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda at the beginning of the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had one hour to promote what he is calling his "victory plan" to 27 EU leaders. He reiterated the five points he had already presented to the Ukrainian parliament the day before.
No new decisions on his key demand that his country should be allowed to join the Western military alliance NATO are likely to be made at the summit in Brussels nor at the NATO defense ministers meeting simultaneously taking place in the Belgian capital.
Lithuania's Nauseda would be in favor of accepting Ukraine as a NATO member. Other countries, above all the alliance's leading power, the United States, have rejected this, arguing that the risk of a direct conflict with the nuclear power Russia would be too great.
Zelenskyy wants Taurus cruise missiles from Germany
Zelenskyy once again demanded that his Western allies finally allow the use of longer-range weapons so that Ukraine could attack targets in Russia. He said it was important to bring "the war back into Russia, so that Russians can feel what war is like and begin to hate [Russian President Vladimir] Putin for it," said the president, who has been leading Ukraine's defense against Russia for almost 1,000 days now.
The US, France and the UK have reportedly supplied cruise missiles and rockets that could potentially also be used to attack military targets in the Russian hinterland. US President Joe Biden, with whom Zelenskyy spoke on the phone this week and who is expected in Berlin on Friday, has so far refused to give the go-ahead. The US has argued that the risk of further escalation is too great.
In Brussels, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said he refused to reconsider. "You know what decision I have made, and it will not change," he told journalists.
He has refused to send German Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, which could be used to reach Russian targets. However, members of the ruling coalition and the opposition Christian Democrats in Germany have called for these systems to be supplied to Ukraine.
Analysts and NATO military staff behind closed doors say that Ukraine can only win if Russian supplies and logistics are fought in Russia itself.
Zelenskyy: Victory depends on Ukraine's allies
Volodymyr Zelenskyy's victory plan does not include an offer to relinquish Ukrainian territories that were occupied or annexed by Russia in violation of international law.
In a joint declaration, the EU members reiterated their stance that peace negotiations can only take place on Ukraine's terms and that no decision can be made without Ukraine.
President of the European Council Charles Michel said that although the EU was already doing a lot, it was not enough. "The EU is on your side. Whatever it takes, we know that you need more help," he told Zelenskyy as they entered the summit building together.
Scholz said that the meeting with Zelenskyy was an "important signal" to the Russian president that "the support of Ukraine's friends will not subside."
The Ukrainian president made it clear that the implementation of his victory plan did not "depend on Russian will, but on the will of our [Ukraine's] partners," adding that some partners had to make a move. He pointed out that his victory plan contained three additional confidential protocols that would further strengthen Ukraine. He said that he aimed to organize a second international peace summit that Russia should also participate in by the end of November.
"Our plan is to be strong and to do strong diplomacy," he said while presenting his strategy "to force Russia into real diplomacy."
"If we start now and follow the Victory Plan, we can end this war no later than next year."
Hungary tries to block EU loan to Ukraine
The EU has already announced a €35 billion ($38 billion) EU loan for Ukraine that will be repaid by interest on frozen Russian assets. The US, Canada and Japan are also expected to provide additional support amounting to €15 billion though the individual amounts have yet to be confirmed. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of Putin's, has tried to block this loan.
Orban has also so far prevented EU sanctions on Russian assets from being extended for another three years. The US had made this extension a condition for its participation in the loan package, which Ukraine wants to use to develop its own production of weapons.
"Please don't ease the pressure of sanctions on Russia. It truly helps," Zelenskyy told the EU. "Your unity is also a weapon. And it's a weapon that means one thing for all of us — safety," he had said at the beginning of his speech. He accused North Korea of helping Putin by providing "equipment and shells" and China of "actively helping Russia to drag out this war."
On Friday, Scholz, Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will discuss Zelenskyy's victory plan in Berlin.
"Our people already do the biggest and the hardest work in the world. They're defending not only Ukraine but the freedom of Europe," Zelenskyy told his colleagues.
This article was translated from German.