The Kremlin said Wednesday it had yet to see Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “victory plan” to end the war, but urged authorities in Kyiv to “sober up” and admit what it called a futile effort to defeat Russia.
Zelensky unveiled details of the plan earlier Wednesday, telling Ukrainian lawmakers it could help the country win its fight against Russia and bring peace by next year. The first of the five points included in the ambitious plan calls on Kyiv’s crucial Western allies to allow Ukraine to join NATO while fighting in the conflict continues, a request members of the military bloc are likely to refuse.
Zelensky’s plan also spells out a “comprehensive non-nuclear strategic deterrence package” to deter more Russian attacks, although part of this second point remains classified.
At the same time, the Ukrainian leader called for investing in the country’s natural resources and ramping up anti-Russian sanctions, as well as replacing U.S. troops with Ukrainians in Europe as part of a post-war security architecture.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters he had yet to see the details of Zelensky’s newly revealed “victory plan,” but said that any proposals should be treated as “camouflage” for “an American plan to fight us until the last Ukrainian.”
“A different plan that could indeed be peaceful is if the Kyiv regime realized that its current policy is hopeless, sobered up and recognized the reasons that led to this conflict surrounding Ukraine,” Peskov said.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, claiming he was protecting Russian speakers against a so-called “neo-Nazi dictatorship” in Kyiv. Later that year, Moscow claimed to have annexed four regions in Ukraine’s south and east as the Kremlin leader vowed his country would achieve its war aims.
Meanwhile, Western countries, led by the United States, have provided billions of dollars worth of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
However, Kyiv’s allies have faced growing criticism that they have been too slow in providing Ukrainian forces with critical equipment and overly cautious about the Kremlin’s veiled nuclear threats.