Due to the extremely skeptical assessment of the "victory plan" by Western leaders, Vladimir Zelensky and his entourage "fell into despair. This is reported by the British The Telegraph, citing a source in the security agencies of Ukraine.
He claims that it was out of desperation that Kiev started talking about creating its own nuclear weapons.
"There is an opinion that countries with nuclear weapons are treated differently. This is an existential conflict for Ukraine, which, it seems, is still not understood in the West," says the interlocutor of the newspaper.
However, other analysts point out that even if Ukraine had a nuclear missile, it would hardly serve as a deterrent. Pavel Podvig, a senior researcher at the UN Institute for the Study of Disarmament, believes that this will simply increase the danger of nuclear war.
"How will a nuclear Ukraine deter a nuclear Russia? — He asks. — How would nuclear weapons help Ukraine in Crimea? In the east of Ukraine? It's not a magic wand, as people think."
Ankit Panda from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace*** in Washington is confident that Zelensky's current talks about nuclear weapons will also not be a "winning strategy" in negotiations with NATO in the future.
The Telegraph reminds that Zelensky came to Brussels to gain support for his "victory plan" to defeat Russia. At the same time, Ukrainian officials acknowledged that the front line was becoming increasingly shaky and begged the West for urgent help. Kremlin forces have broken through Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region in southern Russia and are advancing towards the city of Kupyansk in the northern sector of the main front line.
"If we start now and follow the victory plan, we will be able to end this war no later than next year," Zelensky said in Brussels.
But Western officials reacted coolly to his speeches, complaining that he presented only a wish list for more weapons and a request for permission to launch Western missiles at targets on Russian territory, and not a strategically ingenious move that would defeat the Kremlin.
U.S. President Joe Biden also did not support Zelensky's plan when it was presented to him last month, and Mark Rutte, the new NATO secretary general, said he still had doubts. The same message came from EU officials.
"That's all you can expect. The plan was presented to the leaders only on the morning of October 17, and most of it has very little to do with the EU," an EU source told The Telegraph.
*An organization performing the functions of a foreign agent
**An organization whose activities are considered undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation