Ukraine’s five-point “victory plan” calls for an unconditional invitation for Kyiv to join NATO and a strategic non-nuclear deterrent package in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday.
Addressing parliament, the Ukrainian leader said the plan also envisages the eventual replacement of certain U.S forces in Europe by Ukrainian troops, as well as an agreement among Kyiv’s allies on joint defence and use of critical Ukrainian resources.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday it was too early to comment in detail on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “victory plan,” but that Kyiv needed to “sober up” and realise the futility of the policies it was pursuing.
Addressing parliament, the Ukrainian leader said that it could be possible to end the conflict with Russia no later than next year if his plan was implemented now.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Ukrainian plan was probably a “camouflaged” U.S. plan which he said was about using Kyiv to fight against Russia “until the last Ukrainian.”
“But there could be a different plan there, which could be really peaceful, which is for the Kyiv regime to realise the futility of the policies they are pursuing and to realise the need to sober up and realise the causes that led to this conflict,” Peskov said.
Russia remains staunchly opposed to Ukraine joining NATO. This was one of the primary reasons Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Washington, which has provided billions of dollars of arms and aid to Ukraine, has said it’s up to Kyiv how it deals with Russia.
The Kremlin meanwhile has suggested on Wednesday that many European countries were starting to face difficulties when it came to mobilising their military-industrial industries to help Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about the French and German arms industries, but he did not name any European countries himself or say how or why they were allegedly struggling to help Ukraine.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
