Kiev needs to ‘sober up’ – Kremlin
The so-called “victory plan” unveiled by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky on Wednesday is merely a roadmap for the continuation of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told journalists. Peace can only come if the government in Kiev “sobers up” and acknowledges the roots of the problems that led to the fighting, he added.
Zelensky outlined his proposal to Western backers during an extraordinary parliamentary session, although some parts remain classified. Peskov was asked for comment while the speech was still underway. He said he did not expect to find any surprises when reading media accounts of Zelensky’s speech, considering that his “ethereal” plan had been widely discussed in the press for weeks.
“Most likely, it’s the same American plan to keep fighting a war with us to the last Ukrainian, which Zelensky has camouflaged and now calls a peace plan,” the Russian official said. Kiev can come up with a genuine roadmap for peace only if it “sobers up and reflects on the causes, which have led to the Ukraine conflict,” Peskov added.
Moscow has long considered the hostilities to be a US-initiated proxy war against Russia in which Ukrainian soldiers are expended as cannon fodder with the complicity of their government. Some Western officials, including US Senator Lindsey Graham and ex-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have publicly praised the Ukrainians’ willingness to fight Russia.
Zelensky has been pitching many elements of his proposal to Western leaders for over a year. According to his remarks on Wednesday, the plan includes an immediate invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, Western support for military action on Russian soil, permission for long-range strikes with Western weapons deep inside Russia, and deployment of certain long-range conventional weapons in Ukrainian for “deterrence.”
He also offered the West access to Ukrainian natural resources and the services of battle-hardened Ukrainian troops as part of the proposal. Zelensky stressed that, unless his government is propped up as requested, Russia rather than the US and its allies will benefit from Ukraine's reserves of uranium, titanium, lithium, and graphite.
While promoting the plan in Western capitals, Zelensky “gave allies just three months to adopt the blueprint’s main tenets,” according to the Associated Press. US President Joe Biden, who was the first to be presented with the Ukrainian document, was reportedly unconvinced by its content.
Officials in Kiev claim that the classified part of the plan includes specific requests for weapons, but some commentators suspect that it may also hide unpopular policy changes in Ukraine, such as another reduction of the minimum conscription age.
