Ukraine's victory plan will be discussed at NATO meeting in Brussels
Ukraine's victory plan will be on the agenda at the NATO meeting in Brussels starting on Thursday, secretary-general Mark Rutte told a press conference on Wednesday.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky presented his long-awaited "victory plan" for ending the war with Russia to the Ukrainian parliament on Wednesday.
He said it was important to move fighting back into enemy territory so that the Russian people would feel the war and eventually turn against the Kremlin. Restrictions on the use of Western long-range weapons must also be lifted, Zelensky said.
Kyiv's neighbours should be able to shoot down Russian drones over Ukraine from their territory, and Zelensky suggested that a large arsenal of non-nuclear weapons should be placed in Ukraine to deter Russia from further aggression.
NATO invitation
The most contentious part of Zelensky's plan is his call for NATO to immediately invite Ukraine to join the alliance. On Thursday, Zelensky will attend an EU summit in Brussels, where he will also participate in a NATO meeting.
Rutte confirmed at his press conference that Zelensky's plan would be discussed at that meeting. But the former Dutch prime minister reacted cautiously to Zelensky's call for an immediate NATO invitation, referring only to a statement from a summit in Washington that said Ukraine's path to Alliance membership was "irreversible".
While some member states want Ukraine to join the alliance, countries such as the US and Germany fear it would be an escalation of the conflict that would drag NATO into a war with Russia. Moscow on Wednesday accused Zelensky of pushing NATO into direct conflict with Russia with his proposal.
At the press conference, Rutte insisted that NATO should focus on ensuring "the best possible position" for Ukraine should it decide to enter talks to end the war.
© PHOTO UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP
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