President Volodymyr Zelenskiy unveiled his much anticipated “Victory Plan” at Ukraine’s parliament on Wednesday (October 16), urging his war-weary country to stay united at a precarious time ahead of its key U.S. ally’s Nov. 5 presidential election, Reuters reports.
As Russian troops advance in the east and a bleak winter of power shortages looms, he told lawmakers his plan contained five main points that relied on Kyiv’s allies, including an unconditional invite to join NATO and specific weapons support.
His third point emphasized the need for Ukraine to acquire a non-nuclear deterrence capacity that he said would be enough to destroy Russian military power. He did not elaborate, but said there was an additional secret addendum that he could not disclose.
The plan, he said, also envisaged a Western role defending Ukraine’s natural mineral resources from Russian attacks as well as post-war reconstruction pledges.
The speech was attended by his top military, intelligence and political brass as well as lawmakers, some of whom occasionally stood up to applaud.
The Kremlin said it was too early to comment in detail on Zelenskiy’s plan, but that Kyiv needed to “sober up” and realise the futility of the policies it was pursuing.
Zelenskiy met U.S. President Joe Biden, his key ally, in Washington at the end of the September to present the plan. In a subsequent whirlwind tour of Europe, he met the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Germany to discuss it.
Zelenskiy said he would travel to summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on Thursday (October 17) to present his plan.