Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is visiting the United States again, this time, he says, with a plan for victory. For more than two and a half years, the Ukrainian people have depended on their president to plead their case to the Biden-Harris administration for support, and his efforts have had mixed results. For the most part, his pleas for financial aid and ammunition have been successful. However, with few exceptions, his requests for the weapons to match the Russians in the number to be effective have been delayed or refused.
Zelensky Goes to Washington for Support
This week, when Zelensky meets with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, at the top of the Ukrainian leader’s agenda will be getting permission to launch long-range missiles deep into Russia. The United States, Britain, and France have provided such tactical projectiles but limited their use to inside Ukraine and just over the border into Russia. Since Russia has destroyed 80% of Ukraine’s thermal power plants and hydroelectric energy capability, why is Kyiv being prohibited from doing the same to Russia? To coerce Russia into a peaceful solution means having the ability to hold the Kremlin’s infrastructure, munitions depots, airfields, armed forces assembly areas, and energy production at risk. Forcing Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to seek peace was a pivotal point Zelensky raised in his speech before the UN Security Council on Sept. 24, when he explained:
“And that’s why this war can’t simply ‘fade away.’ That’s why this war can’t be calmed by talks. Action is needed … Putin has broken so many international norms and rules that he won’t stop on his own. Russia can only be forced into peace. And that is exactly what’s needed – forcing Russia into peace as the sole aggressor in this war, the sole violator of the UN Charter.”
Zelensky carried this theme into the UN General Assembly when he addressed that body the next day. Additionally, he warned the group that Russia has the capability and inclination to significantly damage existing nuclear power plants in Ukraine, putting in jeopardy all of Europe. It was a sobering description of what could happen if Russia is left to its own devices in its brutal assault on Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president showed no doubt regarding the suggestions that Ukraine should accept a ceasefire that left significant Ukrainian land in the hands of the invaders. “When the Chinese-Brazilian duo tries to grow into a choir of voices — with someone in Europe, someone in Africa — something alternative to a full and just peace, the question arises what are their true interests? Everyone must understand, you will not boost your power at Ukraine’s expense,” Zelensky said.
In addition to Beijing and Brasilia, the Ukrainian president may have taken a tangential swipe at the Republican vice presidential candidate. While visiting a munitions company in Pennsylvania, Zelensky was highly critical of JD Vance. “Vance said this month that if elected to the White House, Trump would work with Russia, Ukraine, and European leaders to establish a ‘peaceful settlement’ that would grant Moscow the territory it has illegally seized since its 2022 invasion,” Fox News reported.
Zelensky responded by calling Vance “too radical,” warning, “The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable. But I do not consider this concept of his, a plan, in any formal sense. This would be an awful idea, if a person were actually going to carry it out, to make Ukraine shoulder the costs of stopping the war by giving up its territories,” the Ukrainian president told The New Yorker in an interview. The Ukrainian leader might remember before the Russians invaded, Biden mentioned “he might temper sanctions if Russia invades just a little bit of Ukraine,” Liberty Nation News reported.
Thirty Months of Fighting Leave Nerves Raw
It’s probably charitable to take Zelensky’s comments in the context of his position. More than 30 months of constant fighting, with cities and towns left in rubble from Russian pounding, have taken a toll on the Ukrainian people and their president. While he will meet with Biden and Harris, he no doubt will talk to Donald Trump about his plan for victory over the Russian invaders.
Though leaning forward to support Ukraine, the Biden-Harris administration has not done Zelensky and Ukraine’s armed forces any favors by parceling out that help in dribs and drabs. The consequence has been a protracted, deadly human meat grinder on the battlefields. Regarding who came to Kyiv’s support when asked, the Trump administration provided Javelin anti-tank missiles while the Barack Obama administration refused. In an interview with The New York Times, Zelensky put the question of Ukraine’s fate clearly: “Do they really want us to prevail, or is it about something long, some terrible and long tragedy?”
Ukrainian soldiers have stepped up to engage the Russians aggressively. They were willing to move into Russia and take the ground battle inside Mother Russia. Zelensky’s plan for victory soon will be revealed. However, giving the Ukrainian fighting forces permission to reach out and attack deep into Russia with US weapons is a political decision neither side of the divide seems ready to embrace.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.
