Zelensky pitches victory plan to US at war with itself

The US will send an $8 billion “surge” of military aid to Ukraine as Biden nears the end of his presidency. After a furious week of East Coast lobbying, Zelensky would have hoped for more.

The weapons package – which does include precision glide bombs with a range of 130 kilometres – is a generous farewell from a cautious ally, but what Zelensky really wants is in his ‘victory plan’.

The exact details haven’t been made public but are thought to include requests for Nato-style security guarantees and a US greenlight for Ukraine to fire long-range missiles deep into Russia.

Yesterday, Zelensky presented the plan to Biden, who said “Russia will not prevail; Ukraine will prevail”, promising to continue to stand by Ukraine “every step of the way”. Failing a Harris presidency, Zelensky may feel like this is the last-chance saloon.

On Wednesday Trump said Ukraine was “demolished” and its people were “dead”. 

Having initially turned down a chance for talks with Zelensky, the Trump campaign said last night the two would meet this morning. Zelensky’s team will want to use the meeting to change the narrative of his trip, which has been overshadowed by what happened last Sunday.

Zelensky visited an ammunition plant in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he met three Democrats, including the state governor Josh Shapiro.

Republicans took umbrage at this. Most notably:

• House Speaker Mike Johnson called for Zelensky to fire Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, who was also on the trip. Johnson said no Republicans were invited and that the visit was a “partisan campaign event” meant to help Harris in her run for the White House.
• The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee opened an investigation into whether Biden used public funds to fly Zelensky to Pennsylvania.

Whether or not the GOP outrage is confected, Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Gorbach said it was a bad idea for Zelensky to share the victory plan with both Harris and Trump.

Two days ago Trump criticised Zelensky for “refusing to make a deal” with Russia. Yesterday Harris said that calls for Ukraine to cede land to Russia in exchange for peace were “proposals of surrender”.

Two candidates – two radically different futures for Ukraine.

Photograph Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine