V. Zelensky officially announces his Victory plan

The long-awaited "Victory Plan" is presented to the Ukrainian Parliament

Today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his long-awaited and much-discussed plan for Ukraine's victory in his country's Parliament.

The official plan consists of five points: an invitation to join NATO, a defense dimension, deterrence of Russian aggression, economic growth and cooperation, and post-war security architecture.

The plan also includes three secret annexes, which have been communicated to international partners and will be discussed privately at a later stage^[1].

David Arakhamia, leader of Ukraine's ruling party in Parliament, said that the classified parts would also be presented to the heads of the political groups and that Zelensky would also present the "Victory Plan" at the European Union (EU) summit on Thursday.

Ukraine's Victory Plan is a plan to strengthen our country and our position, to be strong enough to end the war," Zelensky said in his speech to the legislators.

The plan highlights joining NATO, supplying long-range weapons

Ukraine's invitation to join NATO topped the list. Ukraine applied for membership in September 2022, but has not yet received a clear signal from its allies on a possible date of accession.

"We understand that NATO membership is a question of the future, not the present", said Zelensky, but added that an immediate invitation would show Russian President Vladimir Putin that his geopolitical calculations are wrong.

V. Zelensky added that Ukraine is "a democratic nation that has proved it can protect the way of life we all share".

The second point of the "Victory Plan" stresses the need to move the war to Russian territory. This will prevent the possible creation of "buffer zones" on Ukrainian territory.

V. Zelensky also called on the partners to "lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons throughout the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine, on Russian territory and for the destruction of enemy military infrastructure, as well as to assist in the provision of reserve brigades".

The third point concerns non-nuclear deterrence. Ukraine proposes "a comprehensive package of non-nuclear strategic deterrence on its territory" to protect the country against future aggression. This point is detailed only for the leaders of the US, UK, Germany, France, France and Italy.

"Ukraine proposes to deploy on its territory a comprehensive package of non-nuclear strategic deterrent measures," Zelensky told his lawmakers.

The fourth part of the plan identifies Ukraine's natural resources - uranium, titanium, lithium and others - and their exploitation. Ukraine is using these resources to underpin its economic recovery potential and proposes a specific agreement on joint investment and exploitation of these resources with the EU and the US.

It also calls for a further increase in international sanctions against Russia. Part of this point is also classified and has only been shared with Western partners.

The fifth part concerns the geopolitical situation expected after the war. The Ukrainian leader pointed out that his country's military forces could, in the future, significantly strengthen the security of NATO and the European continent.

"If the partners agree, we foresee replacing certain US military contingents deployed in Europe with Ukrainian units after the war", President Zelensky said.

V. Zelensky added that if Putin achieves his geopolitical, military, ideological and economic goals, it will give a strong impression to other potential aggressors, especially in the Gulf region, the Indo-Pacific and Africa, that wars of aggression can be profitable for them too.

The plan has received limited popularity in the West

"If the plan is approved, we will be able to end the war by next year at the latest", the Ukrainian leader said^[2].

This "Victory Plan" details the conditions under which Ukraine would be prepared to negotiate peace. Many see it as Ukraine's last-ditch effort to strengthen its hand in any future ceasefire talks with Russia.

However, to date, no party has publicly supported or commented on it. Zelensky presented the plan to several leaders of major European countries during his tour of the West, but none of them have indicated their support for it, and some have expressed concern about the short timeframe Zelensky set for the Allies to adopt the main principles of the plan.

US President Joe Biden, to whom Zelensky first presented the plan during his tour of the US, also showed little public support for the idea. Zelensky was also due to present the plan to the European Council on Thursday^[3].

The Kremlin has also reacted to the plan

The Kremlin has already reacted to the plan presented by Zelensky by suggesting that Kyiv "sober up" and realize the futility of its policy. At the same time, the Kremlin has stated that it is too early to comment in detail on this initiative.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Ukraine plan was probably a "disguised" US plan aimed at using Kiev to fight Russia "to the last Ukrainian".

"But there may be a different plan, which may be genuinely peaceful, which is for the Kyiv regime to realize the futility of the policy it is pursuing and to realize that it needs to think soberly and to realize the reasons that led to this conflict," Peskov said.