Zelensky in the US to present his “victory plan” to Biden

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the United States on Sunday evening, where he will present to the US president Joe Biden and the Congress, what he calls is “victory plan” that Ukraine has prepared to end the two-and-a-half-year war with Russia.

Zelensky began his visit from the state of Pennsylvania, where he inspected an arms factory that produces, in particular, 155 mm shells, which Ukraine consumes a lot of in its war against Russian forces.

“I started my visit to the United States by expressing my gratitude to all the workers at the plant,” the Ukrainian president wrote on X.

“In this kind of place we can really see that the democratic world can win,” he added.

The Ukrainian president is scheduled to visit New York and Washington in particular, where Biden will receive him at the White House on Thursday.

Zelensky stressed that “this fall will be decisive for the outcome” of the war, noting that his US counterpart will be “the first to learn in detail” about his proposals to end the conflict with Russia.

“This war can only end with a just peace through international efforts… Ukraine’s plan for victory will be on the table of all our allies,” he said.

“The main goal is to strengthen Ukraine and protect all our people,” he explained.

Zelensky will brief the US Congress on the plan while in Washington, as well as the two presidential candidates: Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump.

The Ukrainian president noted that he then intends to inform all the leaders of our partner countries about this plan.

Zelensky’s visit comes amid the campaign for the US presidential election scheduled for November 5, and coincides with the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

Zelensky is expected to try again to persuade Biden to allow Kyiv to strike targets in Russia with long-range Western weapons, a move he says could change the course of the war.

The Ukrainian president told media outlets, on Friday evening that so far “we haven’t received permission from America or Britain to use these weapons on Russian territory, against any target and at any distance,” and therefore his army hasn’t done so.

On the other hand, Russia announced on Saturday that it won’t participate in a second summit on peace in Ukraine that Kiev wants to hold in November, after a first version was held in June in Switzerland.

“The goal of the summit will be the same: to promote the unworkable ‘Zelensky formula’ as the only basis for resolving the conflict, to garner support for it from the majority of the world’s countries, and to issue an ultimatum in its name to Russia to surrender,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

“Moscow has expressed its readiness to discuss serious proposals that take into account the situation on the ground based on geopolitical realities,” as President Vladimir Putin put it in June.

Putin stressed in June that Moscow wouldn’t participate in peace talks unless Ukraine gave up its sovereignty over five regions currently partially or completely occupied by Russia.

On the ground, the war between the Ukrainian army and Russian forces continued, and Russian shelling of residential buildings in Kharkov, the second largest Ukrainian city, resulted in 21 people being injured on Saturday night, according to what the region’s governor announced on Sunday.