Kyiv’s allies need to discuss the deployment of a non-nuclear deterrent force against Russia in Ukraine, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Victory Plan suggests, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said.
“Imagine a ceasefire or a peace treaty – you will realize that the question of deploying a non-nuclear deterrent force in Ukraine to be able to repel a new threat from Russia is obviously a question that already needs to be addressed,” Lecornu said on TF1/LCI.
He noted that Kyiv’s Victory Plan is only the beginning of a political journey to resolve the military conflict. There has been a turn toward “politico-military” statements in the rhetoric of the Ukrainian authorities, but at some point Ukraine will resume dialog with Russia, because “no one has ever declared that the Russians have capitulated,” Lecornu concluded.
Zelenskyy presented the Victory Plan in mid-October. It consists of five points and three more “secret additions”. Among the items made public: inviting Ukraine to NATO until the end of the war with Russia, lifting restrictions on the use of long-range weapons, deploying a comprehensive “non-nuclear strategic deterrence package” in the country, as well as assistance in developing the Ukrainian economy. The document also stipulates that the Ukrainian military will be able to “use its experience to strengthen NATO and European defenses” and replace the U.S. contingent after the end of hostilities.
The Ukrainian president presented the plan to the US, Britain, France, Italy and Germany. “The purpose of the plan is that it will strengthen not only Ukraine, but our entire Euro-Atlantic community. You all know the psychology of Russia. Russia will resort to diplomacy only when it sees that it cannot achieve anything by force,” Zelenskyy emphasized.
The Kremlin considered Kyiv’s initiative as a “disguised plan” of the US to continue the war. “This is the same plan of the Americans to fight us to the last Ukrainian,” said Dmitrii Peskov, spokesman for the Russian “president”. The Russian Foreign Ministry, referring to Ukraine’s Victory Plan and peace formula, warned Moscow’s friends and partners “against supporting these ultimatum initiatives and formats into which they are trying to be dragged by methods of deception and pressure.”
