2024-10-10 10:48:00
Ukraine: Zelensky meets Starmer and Rutte on “victory plan”
Zelensky’s European tour continues. This morning, the Ukrainian president met Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Downing Street, after attending a summit with Balkan leaders in Dubrovnik. In the afternoon, he will head to Paris, followed by meetings in Rome with Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis, and finally to Berlin, to secure new support for Kiev.
In detail, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met the Secretary General of NATO in London Marco Rutte during a trilateral meeting with the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The British leader said the discussions focused on Ukraine’s proposed “victory plan” against Russia. In London, Volodymyr Zelensky began an explicit tour of his key European allies, aiming to secure their support less than a month before the US presidential election.
“It’s about Ukraine, but also about the defense of the West and how to stay safe,” hRutte declared in a television interview. Starmer had earlier greeted Zelensky, dressed in his trademark military attire, with a handshake and a hug outside his official residence in the British capital. He told him that it is “very important that we are able to show our continued commitment to supporting Ukraine” and that the meeting was an opportunity to “examine the plan, to talk in more detail.” On the ground, questions are growing among Ukrainian soldiers about the long-term strategy of the offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, given Russia’s push into eastern Ukraine. “If it is a short-term operation, it will strengthen us,” Bogdan, a soldier sitting in a bar in Druzhkivka, near Kramatorsk, told AFP. “If this is a long-term operation and we plan to stay in Kursk, it will exhaust our main resources.”
Ukraine is counting on billions of dollars in financial and military aid from Washington to fight the Russian invasion, and November’s US presidential election could prove crucial. The Germany-based Kiel Institute warned yesterday that Western military and financial aid to Kiev could halve to around 29 billion euros ($31 billion) in 2025 if Republican candidate Trump wins the Nov. 5 election. “As of next year, Ukraine may face a significant aid deficit,” the institute said. Trump has promised to end the war “in 24 hours” if he is elected – a prospect Kiev fears means it will be forced to make massive compromises to achieve peace.
The vice president and Democratic rival Kamala Harris he said he would not meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin for peace talks if Ukraine was not also represented. Zelensky has rejected any peace plan that involves ceding territory to Russia, arguing that Moscow must withdraw all its troops from within Ukraine’s borders to achieve lasting peace. Zelensky’s visit to Downing Street is his second since Starmer’s Labor Party won a landslide triumph in the July 4 general election. He received a standing ovation from British ministers when, on July 19, he became the first foreign leader to personally address the British cabinet since 1997. Britain pledged to provide £3 billion ($3.9 billion ) of military aid to Ukraine every year for as long as necessary.
Ukraine, Zelensky arrived in Paris after the meetings in London
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky he arrived in Paris from London as part of a European tour aimed at securing aid ahead of crucial US presidential elections. The Ukrainian presidency announced that Zelensky has arrived in the French capital, where he will meet the president Emmanuel Macron. During the tour he will also meet Italian and German leaders.
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