Zelensky unveils 'victory plan' to end Putin's invasion

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has unveiled his much-anticipated victory plan” to end Vladimir Putin’s invasion hours after Russia fired scores of drones into Ukraine.

- ALEX CROFT

Mr Zelensky told Ukraine’s parliament yesterday that the plan could finish the war – which began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022 – no later than next year.

Mr Zelensky’s plan calls most significantly for the unconditional accession of Ukraine to Nato, the lifting of restrictions on longrange strikes on Russia using Western-supplied weapons, a refusal to trade Ukraine’s territories currently occupied by Russian forces, and the continuation of the Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region of Russia.

“Together with our partners, we must change the circumstances so that the war ends. Regardless of what Putin wants. We must all change the circumstances so that Russia is forced to peace,” Mr Zelensky told Ukrainian MPs as he outlined the plan.

Mr Zelensky, who has unrelentingly called for a “fair” end to the war, said his plan was needed to force the Kremlin to negotiate in good faith, though he appeared to acknowledge in his speech that some allies see the war’s end game differently.

“We hear the word ‘negotiations’ from partners and the word ‘justice’ much less often. Ukraine is open to diplomacy, but honest [diplomacy],” he said.

The plan, which Mr Zelensky discussed with world leaders on a whirlwind tour of Europe and the US in the past weeks, also called for bolstered defence capabilities and a non-nuclear deterrence to Russian aggression.

The Ukrainian leader did not elaborate on what the non-nuclear deterrence would involve, but said there were three secret addendums to the plan that he could only discuss with Ukraine’s allies.