(AFP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the United States on Sunday for a crucial visit to lay out Kiev's plans to end the two-and-a-half-year war with Russia.
Zelensky is expected to present what he calls a “victory plan” to President Joe Biden, presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The visit comes after a summer of fierce fighting that saw Moscow advance rapidly in eastern Ukraine and Kiev seize control of large swaths of Russia's Kursk region.
Kiev has also been seeking permission from the West for weeks to use long-range weapons to strike targets deep inside Russian territory, but so far without success.
Zelensky is expected to try to persuade Biden to change his mind when they meet at the White House on Thursday.
As part of the first leg of his visit to the United States, the Ukrainian president on Sunday visited a factory in Pennsylvania that produces badly needed 155mm artillery shells.
“I began my visit to the United States by expressing my gratitude to all the workers at the plant,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Twitter on Sunday.
The post also included a photo of him shaking hands with workers at the factory and said production was being ramped up.
“It is places like these that you truly feel that a democratic world can prevail,” he wrote.
He is scheduled to visit New York and Washington next.
Zelenskiy said the coming weeks would determine how more than 30 months of fighting that has left thousands dead would end.
“Right now, the current generation of state leaders, the people who hold the highest office, are being determined to determine what kind of legacy they will leave,” he said.
In comments ahead of the visit, Zelenskiy said the United States and Britain had not allowed Ukraine to use long-range weapons for fear of an escalation, but suggested he was not giving up hope.
“We have made some decisions in the history of our relationship with Mr. Biden. It's been a very interesting and difficult conversation,” Zelensky said earlier this week, adding that “he has since changed his view.”
Moscow has said such recognition would mean NATO countries would be “at war” with Russia.
A Biden aide said this month that the US leader would use the rest of his term “to put Ukraine in the best position to win.”
Details of Ukraine's plans have not been made public.
Zelensky said Biden would be the first foreign leader to see the plan “in its entirety,” and that it would then be presented to “all leaders of our partner countries.”
Zelensky is set to present the proposal to Congress, Harris and President Trump. The White House has said Zelensky will meet with Vice President Harris, a Democrat, separately from Biden, and that he plans to meet with President Trump, a Republican, on Thursday or Friday.
Harris has indicated she will continue Biden's Ukraine policy, while Trump has been a strong critic of Washington's huge aid package for Kyiv.
Zelenskiy said earlier this week that the plan envisages “not seeing a return of war in bigger waves” over the next few years.
He said Kiev planned to hold the conferences throughout the fall and that the “full plan” would be ready by “early November.”
He told media on Friday that the proposal envisaged “swift and concrete steps by strategic partners.”
He said one of the measures was “related to strengthening Ukraine's weapons capabilities,” while the other called for “a clear position for Ukraine in the global security architecture.”
Zelensky also said he plans to invite Russia to the second International Peace Summit, which could be held in November.
But Moscow said this weekend it would not attend, citing President Vladimir Putin's condition for joining the talks that Ukraine surrender four regions.
“I think both sides are still betting on the possibility of a military victory,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told CNN on Sunday.
Six people, including two children, were killed in Russian attacks in Ukraine this weekend, while an attack on the city of Kharkiv left 21 people wounded in a residential area.
Ukraine announced it had attacked two arms depots inside Russia, while Kiev's forces said they had struck an ammunition storage facility vital to the logistics of the Russian invasion.
