Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated on Monday, September 23rd, that decisive action by the United States now could prompt Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine by next year, accelerating the process of ending the war.
“We now have a real opportunity by the end of this year to significantly strengthen the cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy wrote on the messaging app Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. Congress. “Taking decisive action now can speed up the just end of the Russia-Ukraine war next year.”
Earlier on Monday, Zelenskiy told ABC News that only by putting Ukraine in a “position of strength” could Russian President Vladimir Putin be persuaded to end the war.
“I believe we are closer to peace than we might think,” Zelenskiy told ABC. “We are closer to ending the war.”
Zelenskiy is currently in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly. Later this week, he will travel to Washington to discuss his Ukrainian “Victory Plan,” which will influence the White House’s decisions on the Russia-Ukraine conflict regardless of the outcome of the U.S. election in November.
On Monday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stated that if elected, he would end the war within a few days, without providing detailed specifics. Trump also mentioned that Zelenskiy hopes for a Democratic victory in the November election.
However, Zelenskiy previously stated that he is willing to cooperate with whomever enters the White House.
During a speech at the “Future Summit” at the United Nations on Monday, Zelenskiy outlined key points of his “Victory Plan.”
“We are focusing on food security, energy security, and holding Russia accountable for terrorism,” Zelenskiy said. “We will discuss all other points of the peace plan, including prisoner releases, territorial integrity restoration, and more. We are preparing a document to be released at the second peace summit.”
In February 2022, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, referred to by Moscow as a “special military operation,” has resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and displaced millions of people.
Zelenskiy’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak stated in New York on Monday that the “Victory Plan” includes expediting Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
However, Russia has declared that this is unacceptable and a stance Moscow will never tolerate.
Putin has stated that only if Kyiv cedes large swathes of its eastern and southern territories to Russia and abandons NATO membership will peace negotiations commence. Zelenskiy, on the other hand, has repeatedly called for Russia to withdraw all troops from Ukraine and restore the borders as they were after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Russia currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory and is advancing into eastern Ukraine, seeking to occupy the entire Donbas region.
To regain the initiative in the war, Ukrainian forces broke through the Russian border in early August, engaging in combat in the Kurzsk region in the west and occupying dozens of villages.
Zelenskiy told ABC that despite Russian forces advancing towards Donbas, the actions of the Ukrainian military in Kurzsk have exposed weaknesses in Putin’s military deployment.
“He is very scared,” Zelenskiy said, “because his people see he cannot defend all of his territory.”
Ukraine and Western nations allege that Russia is launching an imperialistic war, while Putin portrays the invasion of Ukraine as a defensive action against Western alliances.
(This article was referenced from reports by Reuters and the Associated Press)