Ukrainian President Zelenskyy wants to explain to US President Biden today how he intends to defeat Russia. The reaction could be muted. But Biden will probably announce another aid package.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to do everything he can to secure support for his so-called victory plan: he has spent three days appearing at the United Nations. Now the talks in the White House will follow.
He told the US television station ABC that his “victory plan” was “a bridge to finally stop the war through diplomacy.” Ukraine must first be strengthened militarily. Only from this position of strength can Russian President Vladimir Putin be forced to end the war.
Details will be announced later
Zelensky will only reveal details of his plan after the talks in the White House. But much has already leaked out, says Christopher Preble, foreign policy expert at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank: “As far as we know, the ‘victory plan’ contains nothing really new.” In essence, it is the same goals that Zelensky has already formulated: permission to use Western weapons against targets inside Russia and security guarantees – up to and including NATO membership for Ukraine.
Preble says he does not expect the US to respond to these demands: “I honestly cannot imagine that the attitude of Biden and other Western heads of government has changed significantly.” The main reason remains the concern that Russia could otherwise escalate the war.
Although Washington is expecting Biden to officially announce another US aid package for Ukraine, the bottom line would be: yes to continuing aid at the current level – no to Zelensky’s additional demands.
Trump would probably largely end aid
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has made it clear in several campaign appearances that if he wins the election, he also wants to end aid on the current scale: “We are stuck in this war, we have to get out of it,” he said in Savannah, Georgia.
Foreign policy expert Preble says that US aid to Ukraine could also end if Kamala Harris, rather than Trump, wins the presidential election. There is already “significant resistance” in Congress to further billions in aid. The probability that Trump’s Republicans could hold the majority in at least one of the two chambers is high.
Preble’s conclusion: “Germany and other European countries must do more for Ukraine, whatever the outcome of the US election in November.”