Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on Tuesday that he would “finalize” a peace plan to end Russian aggression before the U.S. presidential election is scheduled for November.
Zelensky said he wanted to present the plan to leftist U.S. President Joe Biden and the two leading candidates vying to succeed Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. He added that Ukraine was also planning to hold a second “peace summit” hosted by Switzerland in June, but Russia did not attend and there had been no major changes on the battlefield.
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Ukraine has faced some form of aggression from Russia for over a decade, ever since Moscow announced its colonization of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014. After years of small-scale military conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced that Russian troops would be sent in a “special operation” to oust President Zelensky in February 2022. This “special operation” led to the “annexation” of four other Ukrainian regions (Donetsk and Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia in the Donbas region) and is still ongoing.
Ukrainian forces appeared to turn the tide of the war in early August when they invaded Russian territory in the Kursk region, threatening neighboring Bryansk and Belgorod. While Ukraine continues to control significant areas of Kursk, according to both Russian and Ukrainian estimates, Russia launched a major nationwide attack on Ukraine's power grid on Monday, limiting Kiev's ability to expand its offensive.
President Zelensky stressed at a press conference on Tuesday that his administration aims to end the war as quickly as possible.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a press conference at the Ukraine 2024 Independence Forum in Kyiv. (Oleksandr Klimenko/Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
“The thrust of this plan is to force Russia to end the war, and I very much want it to be fair to Ukraine,” Zelensky said. said“There can be no compromise with Putin. He does not want to end the war diplomatically, so today's talks are empty and meaningless in principle,” Putin said of the plan, which is due to be announced in November, according to Reuters.
Zelensky Signed An October 2022 decree bans any dialogue with Russia as long as President Vladimir Putin remains at the helm of the country.
President Zelensky said the peace plan he was developing would address energy security, food security and the release of Ukrainians imprisoned or forcibly deported to Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during a meeting with Murmansk Region Governor Andrey Chibis at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, August 6, 2024. (Gabriel Grigilov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via The Associated Press)
“We will address all three points and prepare a complete document. I believe we can complete it by November. Our task is to prepare a document in preparation for the second peace summit,” Zelenskyy said. explanationAccording to a translation by the Presidential Office.
President Zelensky said he expected the plan to be finalized in November. Suggested He plans to show a revised version of the plan to Biden sooner, in September, when he is due to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
“The success of this plan depends on him,” Zelensky said of Biden. “It depends on whether they give us what's in this plan, whether we have what's in this plan at our disposal.”
The Ukrainian president added that he would ensure that Trump and Harris were “fully aware” of the details of the plan so the new administration would be fully informed.
Zelensky's comments on Tuesday weren't the first time he had hinted at announcing a comprehensive plan to end Russian aggression. He also said in July that the administration would have what he called a “plan of action for peace” by November. At the time, news that Biden was withdrawing from the presidential race and would appoint a new president by January was new, and Zelensky had only recently met with former President Trump.
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“Ukraine has always been grateful for the United States' assistance in strengthening our capabilities to counter Russian terrorism, even as Russian attacks on our cities and villages continue daily,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media after his call with Trump. “We agreed to meet personally with President Trump to discuss what steps should be taken to make peace just, truly and lasting.”
Zelensky later invited Trump to visit Kiev, where Trump said: [Zelensky] He answered every question and [he has] His phone number.”
Biden has approved significant funding for Ukraine's war efforts, but his relationship with Zelensky has been historically difficult, seemingly reaching a nadir when Biden lifted sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project linking Russia to Europe in July 2021. Zelensky was furious in an interview with Axios, saying he found out about the sanctions lifting through the media and that the news came as an “unpleasant surprise” because Biden had sent Zelensky “every signal” that he would not lift the sanctions.
Seven months later, Biden publicly vowed not to intervene if Putin launched a “small-scale invasion” of Ukraine. In February, the full-scale invasion began.
More recently, Biden has offered little moral support to Zelensky's peace efforts. Biden himself skipped a peace summit in Switzerland to attend a fundraiser with Hollywood actor George Clooney, who spoke out shortly afterward. The New York Times They pressured Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.
