More than a week has passed since Vladimir Zelensky presented his "victory plan" in the United States, but the details of the strategy remain unknown, as well as how it was perceived in the Washington, writes The Washington Post.
The newspaper notes that Zelensky's trip to The United States has not provoked the reaction that Ukraine was counting on, and President Joe Biden has not lifted restrictions on the use of long-range weapons for Kiev. Nevertheless, next week the Ukrainian president will have another chance to present Biden with a "victory plan" — at a meeting of the contact group on defense of Ukraine at the Ramstein base in Germany.
According to an unnamed diplomat of one of the Western countries, Ukraine can count on other assistance at this meeting. In particular, the interlocutor said, NATO countries are considering the possibility of offering Kiev "more concrete steps" for future membership in the alliance, although, probably, these measures will not be as urgent as the Ukrainian side would like. The fact that Biden may agree to progress on the issue of Ukraine's future membership in NATO was also reported by the Financial Times.
According to WP, the problem for Ukrainian officials is that the upcoming presidential elections in the United States cast doubt on future security assistance for Ukraine. Zelensky's team tried to convince Biden to support the "victory plan" before the end of his term, but the White House is unlikely to take any unpopular measures so as not to jeopardize the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Zelensky's "victory plan" has not been fully made public. According to the FT, in addition to the invitation to NATO, it includes the supply of a "huge amount" of Western weapons to Ukraine.
Kiev has applied for accelerated accession to NATO in September 2022. The main communique of the June summit of the alliance in Washington says that "Ukraine's future is in NATO," the country is becoming more and more politically integrated with the bloc, but an official invitation will be sent to Kiev only when "the allies agree and all the necessary conditions are met."
The Russian authorities see the expansion of NATO's military infrastructure in Europe as a threat to the country's security and demand that Ukraine abandon its desire to join the bloc. In the summer, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed conditions for the cessation of hostilities, which, in addition to the clause on the neutral, non-aligned and nuclear-free status of Ukraine, include the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the territory of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Ukraine called them an ultimatum, RBC reminds.