Zelenskiy to Push Biden on NATO Invite, Visit US Arms Factory

Volodymyr Zelenskiy will push US President Joe Biden to provide an official invitation to join NATO and commit to a sustained supply of advanced weapons as part of the Ukrainian president’s “victory plan” to bring the war with Russia to an end. 
Zelenskiy’s expected to present the plan, which also requests a clear pathway to European Union membership as well as other economic and security arrangements, to Biden when they meet in Washington on Sept. 26, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. 
Ahead of the UN General Assembly general debate that starts in New York on Tuesday, Zelenskiy plans to visit a factory in Pennsylvania that’s producing some of the most-needed munitions for Ukraine’s defense against Russia. 
He’ll visit the plant, which produces 155mm artillery shells crucial to Kyiv’s war effort, on Sunday, according to a person familiar with his schedule. Ukraine faced severe shortages of the shells in its eastern Donetsk region before it launched an incursion into Kursk in August, Zelenskiy said last week.
During several days in the US Zelenskiy will also discuss his plan with presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and members of Congress from both parties, as well as making it public more generally to allies and others. 
“The Victory Plan, this bridge to strengthening Ukraine, can contribute to more productive future diplomatic meetings with Russia,” Zelenskiy told reporters in a briefing on Friday. “Russia should see it.” 
The Ukrainian leader has described the plan as a blueprint for how to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek peace. Kyiv has also worried that a cease-fire without clear guarantees would leave Russia free to strike again after re-arming. 
The broad contours of the proposal include ensuring Ukraine’s place in the global “security architecture,” boosting its weapons capabilities, and economic development, Zelenskiy said. 
Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk, the first foreign military offensive inside Russia since World War II, also plays a role in the plan that Zelenskiy didn’t elaborate on — although he said that Russia has been forced into keeping some 42,000 troops locked in fighting there, a figure that couldn’t be independently verified. 
“We will discuss all the details with the US president because some points depend on positive will and support of the US,” Zelenskiy told reporters Friday at a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “The plan relies on quick decisions of our partners, which should be taken from October to December. We need it like that because we think then the plan will work out.”
Zelenskiy has said the proposal will help lead to his earlier “peace plan,” which includes Russia’s total withdrawal. That proposal failed to garner widespread support at a summit in June hosted by Switzerland as many countries in the Global South, which have been ambivalent about isolating Russia, refused to endorse it.
On Friday, Zelenskiy also reiterated that Kyiv wants to hold a second summit by the end of the year that would include Russia.
“There can be no end to a war without one of the sides,” he said.
Some of Ukraine’s supporters are starting to examine options for a negotiated cease-fire as the war grinds through a third year, Bloomberg News reported this week. Amid those discussions, Zelenskiy has stuck to his earlier position that Ukraine cannot cede territory captured by Russia, one of the people said.
Zelenskiy has dialed up his criticism of Ukraine’s partners this month over what he sees as their flagging support while Russia has stepped up attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter. The Ukrainian leader said the arrival of military aid has risen this month but remains too slow. 
Separately, he disputed a Wall Street Journal report this week, citing internal estimates, that Ukraine has lost 80,000 service members in the war. “The real figure is much lower than what was published. Significantly,” Zelenskiy said, without providing another estimate. 
The incursion into Kursk, as well as Zelenskiy’s continued requests to use US and UK weapons for strikes deeper into Russia, have raised questions from Washington and allies over Ukraine’s strategy heading into 2025.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine hasn’t used Western long-range weapons to target Russian territory, and that neither the US nor UK have so far given permission for such strikes. 
“Our job is to put Ukraine in a strong position on the battlefield so that they are in a strong position at the negotiating table,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sept. 14, adding that the administration hopes to have “a conversation that puts all of the pieces together.”
With assistance from Aliaksandr Kudrytski, Alberto Nardelli, Alex Wickham and Courtney McBride.
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