(Aug 28): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will present a plan to force Russia to halt its invasion of his country to Joe Biden just weeks before the US holds presidential elections.
Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that he wants to discuss the blueprint with Biden during his trip to the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York in September. He will also present it to presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, he said.
The blueprint comprises a “powerful package to force Russia to end the war using diplomacy”, “economic” steps and Ukraine’s “place in the global security” architecture, Zelenskiy said. Kyiv’s surprise incursion into Kursk region earlier this month was part of what the president described as his “victory plan”.
The announcement comes as the outcome of the Nov 5 election in the US remains uncertain and the two candidates differ significantly on a solution to the conflict in Ukraine, currently well into its third year. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has given little indication that he’s ready to negotiate, except on his own terms.
“It would be fair to present the plan to the US president first; it depends on him whether the plan will be successful,” Zelenskiy said during a press conference with his top officials in Kyiv on Tuesday, which lasted over four hours. “And we do want to execute this plan.”
The attempt to coerce Russia to pull its troops is likely to face hurdles. Any such initiative from Kyiv will have to rely heavily on continued support from western allies at a time when war fatigue continues to grow.
While President Biden and Vice President Harris have pledged to back Kyiv for as long as needed, Trump has repeatedly raised doubts over US commitments to Nato. He has also said he will bring the war to an end before his inauguration.
The Kremlin has continued to demand that Kyiv withdraw its forces from the four Ukrainian regions that Russia partially occupies and abandon its bid to join Nato before it will agree to a ceasefire.
Zelenskiy on Tuesday dismissed any prospects of talks with Putin, calling them “empty and meaningless”.
But his attempt to win over key nations from the Global South, many of which have been sympathetic to Russia, for Ukraine’s current blueprint for peace largely faltered at a summit in Switzerland in June.
While the meeting included representatives from more than 90 countries, Russia wasn’t invited. Several states sent lower-level delegations and some declined to sign a final statement.
Speaking at the same conference as Zelenskiy on Tuesday, president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak reiterated a plan to hold a second summit in one of the countries of the Global South. Russia is unlikely to ignore the meeting if other members of the BRICS group of states that also includes Brazil, India, China and South Africa were to engage, he said.
Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is also going to be featured in the discussion with Biden, Zelenskiy said, calling the operation successful. It’s delivered “many necessary solutions”, he said. Kyiv’s allies have largely withheld judgement of the offensive.
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