Zelensky’s ‘Victory Plan’: Ukraine’s Bold Vision for 2025

By Matthew Grace

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed his members of parliament with a “victory plan” to bolster Ukraine’s position to end the war with Russia in 2025. His address, also condemned China, Iran, and North Korea as a “coalition of criminals” for supporting the “gone mad” Vladimir Putin and his war mongering. His five specific points called for a formal invitation to join NATO, Russian containment through a non-nuclear strategic deterrent package sponsored in Ukraine, joint U.S. and EU protection of Ukraine’s vital natural resources, permission to use Western supplied weapons to strike deep into Russia with continued offensives in the Kursk region. Also in the immediate post-war period, to replace some US stationed troops throughout Europe with Ukrainian soldiers. These points carried three secret ‘addendums’ revealed only to Ukraine’s partners including the US, UK, France, Italy, and Germany. According to US officials in September, the Biden administration fears Zelensky’s plan is not comprehensive and only signals for more Western aid with lifted restrictions. U.S. and Ukrainian analysts suggest that the White House is concerned about war escalation and questions Zelensky’s conditions for peace when faced with the current situation.

Moscow dismissed Zelensky’s plan stating he needed to “sober up” and to “realize the futility of the policy…”. Further cracks in Ukraine’s fight appeared on the Homefront with a “growing fatigue” within the country and the slipping of national morale, but Zelensky’s messaging of an existential Russian threat remained undeterred as he presses Russia to negotiate without ceding territory and the approval of his plan with the Western allies. NATO’s new Secretary General Mark Rutte commented that Zelensky’s address was a “strong signal” from Kyiv and that he was confident that Ukraine would be a NATO member in the future. Zelensky’s ambitious address directly faces reports of North Korean troops en route to Russia, but no official reports have been documented. Numbers from 3000 to 10000 have surfaced but were denied from the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, but Russia and North Korea’s relationship has been growing since this summer with multiple meetings from the heads of state. Zelensky and South Korea both doubt direct North Korean involvement on account of the language, equipment, and logistics barriers as well as the insignificant contribution 3000-10000 troops would make overall but acknowledged the movement of North Korean personnel into Russia assuming to reinforce conscription and border control near the Russo-Ukrainian border. The US state department spokesman Matthew Miller stated that this headline highlights a “new level of desperation by Russia”.