Zelenskiy Prepares To Present 'Victory Plan' To Allies

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will present Kyiv’s “victory plan” during an upcoming meeting of Western allies in Germany.

"We will present the victory plan, clear, specific steps for a just end to the war," Zelenskiy wrote on October 5, referring to the all-out war with Russia that began when Ukraine was invaded in February 2022.

The 25th meeting of more than 50 allies and partners, collectively known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, will take place at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany on October 12.

Referring to the strategy as “peace through strength,” Zelenskiy said that the “victory plan provides for the necessary strengthening of Ukraine.”

Zelenskiy added that Kyiv had already begun discussions with the United States, Ukraine’s leading supporter during the war with Russia, and that “we are involving all partners."

Zelenskiy began teasing Ukraine’s “victory plan” in August, and later announced that it was nearly complete and consists of “four main points and one that must be implemented after the war.”

During his visit to Washington last month, he presented the plan to U.S. President Joe Biden as well as to both candidates in the November 5 presidential election -- current Vice President Kamala Harris (Democrat) and former President Donald Trump (Republican).

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said at the time that the plan contained "a number of productive steps."

Little else is known about the plan, although The Wall Street Journal has cited anonymous U.S. officials as saying it was essentially a renewed request for more weapons and for countries that donate long-range missiles to lift restrictions on using them to strike deeper into Russian territory.

In late September, Zelenskiy said that Ukraine and its partners should “determine joint steps and a common vision of how to increase pressure on Russia" during the Ramstein meeting.

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Zelenskiy also said that Ukraine’s military faced a “very, very difficult” situation as it continues to fend off invading Russian forces that have made significant gains in Ukraine’s east in recent weeks.

However, Zelenskiy stressed the importance of Ukraine’s military making gains itself ahead of the Ramstein meeting to assure allies of its capabilities.

Zelenskiy is scheduled to meet again with U.S. President Biden during the gathering.

Meanwhile, the Russian military claimed on October 5 to have taken another village near the strategically important eastern town of Kurakhove, one of the focal points of Russia's slow advance through the industrial Donetsk region.

Russia's Defense Ministry identified the settlement taken as Zhelanne Druhe, which had a prewar population of about 200 people located along the Vovcha River.

Meanwhile, a Russian warplane crashed near the Ukrainian city of Kostyantynivka, with a source within Ukraine’s military claiming that Russian air defenses mistakenly shot it down.

Video footage showed a downed Russian fighter jet, but details of the incident were not immediately available and there was no acknowledgment from the Russian side of what happened.

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The Ukrayinska Pravda news website, citing an air force source in Kyiv, said the jet was over occupied territory and was preparing to release glide bombs when it was hit by Russian missiles.

The battlefield reports could not immediately be verified.