Zelenskyy’s Ukraine Victory Plan Includes Requests For NATO Membership, Long-Range Weapons to Strike Russia

Last updated on October 16th, 2024 at 09:06 am

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed details of his Ukraine “victory” plan during an address to the Ukrainian parliament on Oct. 16.

The Ukrainian leader visited the United States in September to share his plan with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former President Donald Trump; the later two of which are vying to become the next U.S. president. During his visit last month, Zelenskyy kept many details of his plan under wraps. His speech before the Ukrainian parliament on Wednesday, represents the first time he’s shared details of his plan publicly.

In all, Zelenskyy described a five-part proposal, which he has acknowledged is highly-reliant on international support.

First and foremost, Zelenskyy said the plan requires the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to extend membership to Ukraine.

“We are a democratic nation that has proven we can defend Euro-Atlantic values and our shared way of life. For decades, Russia has exploited Europe’s geopolitical uncertainty—the fact that Ukraine is not a NATO member. This emboldened Russia to attack our security,” he said. “Now, an invitation to NATO for Ukraine can be crucial for peace.”

While NATO has extensively supported Ukraine throughout it military operations to put down pro-Russian secessionists in its eastern Donbass region since 2014, and in its efforts to repel Russian forces since February of 2022, the alliance has been more reluctant to make Ukraine a full member.

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stated reasons for launching the 2022 invasion operation in Ukraine, was to prevent the country from entering NATO and allowing the western military alliance to expand its presence along Russia’s borders.

NATO Article 5 also states an attack on any one member will be treated as an attack on all members, warranting collective response.

Were Russia to continue military operations against Ukraine after it gains NATO membership, it would risk direct conflict with the entire alliance. Such a conflict could see multiple nuclear-armed nations fighting.

Zelenskyy presented NATO membership for Ukraine as a necessary rebuke of Russian geopolitical interests.

“We understand that NATO membership is for the future, not the present. But Putin must see that his geopolitical ambitions have failed, and the Russian people must feel that their czar has been defeated geopolitically,” he said.

As a second point in his plan, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s backers must not only continue to bolster Ukrainian defenses, but also support Ukraine in “bringing the war to Russian territory.”

“We are not naive,” he said. “Ukraine does not and will not believe that the majority of Russians will ever grasp the depth of Russia’s moral downfall, but they must feel the collapse of their army. And that will be the defeat of their war ideology.”

For months, Zelenskyy has called on his western backers to permit Ukrainian forces to strike more freely inside Russian territory. The United States and other NATO members have been reluctant to meet this request, even as Ukrainian ground forces launched an incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region.

“Thanks to the Kursk operation, we saw that Putin lacks the strength to hold on when we truly press hard,” Zelenskyy said.

The actual success of the Kursk operation remains unclear. Russia’s military has claimed to destroy more than a thousand Ukrainian combat vehicles, artillery pieces, and other weapons systems, and to have inflicted more than 16,000 casualties on Ukrainian forces. While Ukrainian forces maintain a shrinking foothold in the Kursk region more than two months on, they’ve ceded some of their own territory, including the city of Vulhedar, since the start of their Kursk offensive.

Zelenskyy said the third point in his victory plan is “deterrence.”

“Ukraine proposes deploying on its territory a comprehensive non-nuclear strategic deterrence package,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader said he spoke with the leaders of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany, in a classified setting about this “deterrence” plan.

Zelenskyy said this deterrence plan will force Russia to either join “an honest diplomatic process for a just end to the war” or “lose its ability to continue the aggressive war due to Ukraine’s application of the deterrence package provided.” He provided no additional details about what this non-nuclear deterrence package entails.

Zelenskyy presented the fourth point in his plan as an opportunity for strategic economic partnership.

“Ukraine proposes that the United States, along with designated partners—including the European Union, which Ukraine will be a part of—and other global partners, sign a special agreement for the joint protection of Ukraine’s critical resources, as well as joint investment in and utilization of the corresponding economic potential,” he said.

Zelenskyy said this point will help strengthen the economies of Ukraine and its partners, and pair with existing economic pressure campaigns against Russia.

“This agreement will naturally complement and reinforce the existing system of economic pressure on Russia, including all current sanctions, the oil price cap, export restrictions to Russia, and other pressure measure,” he said.

The fifth point in Zelenskyy’s plan focuses on a post-war point in time. He said Ukraine’s military will be a highly experienced force after the war, and can share their experience to “strengthen the defense of the Alliance and ensure security in Europe.”

“We foresee, with the agreement of our partners, the replacement of certain U.S. military contingents stationed in Europe with Ukrainian units after the war,” he said.

It remains to be seen whether the international community will join on to Zelenskyy’s plan. Already, the United States has committed more than $174 billion in military and economic assistance to Ukraine. Other NATO allies, along with the EU, have contributed more than $50 billion in additional military assistance since 2022.