Zelenskyy proposes path to peace talks with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a speech Wednesday to parliament acknowledged that many Ukrainians no longer believed a victory over Russian forces was possible. Still, Zelenskyy outlined his plan to force Moscow to the negotiating table with Kyiv and to eventually submit to a peace agreement. Zelenskyy discussed the five key ingredients of his end-the-war recipe with members of Ukraine’s parliament and received mixed responses.

What were the five ingredients? Zelenskyy didn’t seem to promise that Ukraine would regain control of all its occupied or lost territory. But he did say he didn’t seek to trade Ukraine’s sovereignty or territory. He insisted Ukraine could achieve a just peace agreement.

• First: Zelenskyy insisted Ukraine continue to pursue membership in NATO. He acknowledged that it wasn’t immediately possible for the government in Kyiv to join the pan-Atlantic alliance. But he insisted that an invitation for Ukraine to join the bloc at a future date would help motivate Russia to reach a peace deal. The Ukrainian parliament in 2017 voted to set NATO membership as a strategic goal.

• Second: The United States and other Western allies need to supply Ukraine with the weapons necessary to continue military operations in Russian territory, Zelenskyy said. Kyiv’s Western allies also need to stop restricting the use of long-range missiles they provided earlier, he said.

• Third: Ukraine needs to begin hosting a network of Western-backed defense systems —a network strong enough to crush Russia’s war machine if Moscow attempts to push further into Ukraine. Kyiv had already discussed the nature and scope of the so-called “deterrence package” the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, and others, Zelesnkyy said.

• Fourth: Ukraine must grant Western businesses greater access to natural resources inside its territory. Russia wants those natural resources for itself—Zelenskyy called it a huge motivator for Moscow’s invasion—and Kyiv needs to make sure the West got to them first, Zelenskyy said.

• Fifth: After the war ended, Ukraine needed to take over the military postings of many U.S. units stationed in Europe. All of NATO should benefit from Ukraine’s experience fighting against Russian forces in real-time, Zelenskyy explained.

What sort of response did this receive from lawmakers? The Ukrainian parliament would join Zelenskyy in implementing the plan, Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk said. One Ukrainian lawmaker, Oleksiy Honcharenko, said the plan was unrealistic and that it failed to address corruption within the Ukrainian government. He claimed in a separate statement that it also lacked specifics.

Another lawmaker, Roman Lozynskyi, described Zelenskyy’s plan as science fiction. He quickly added that Ukraine receiving F-16s and Patriot missile systems from the West also sounded like dreams—until they arrived. The success of the plan depends entirely on whether or not Ukraine’s Western allies choose to cooperate with Kyiv on implementing it, he said.

Dig deeper: Read Daniel R. Suhr’s column in WORLD Opinions about how Russian President Vladimir Putin uses the Russian Orthodox Church to prosecute evangelicals in Ukraine.