Volodymyr Zelenskyy has come to the US with a mission: to sell his vision for a Ukrainian victory despite the growing odds against Kyiv in its war with Russia.
The Ukrainan president spoke out forcefully on Tuesday and Wednesday in the security council and then at the general assembly of the United Nations, calling on other countries to back Ukraine’s proposal for a “just peace” and refrain from holding alternative talks with Vladimir Putin.
But the real work will come on Thursday, when Zelenskyy meets Joe Biden at the White House to present his “victory plan”, a closely held Ukrainian proposal for an end to the war without a full capitulation to Moscow.
It is clear that Zelenskyy is facing an uphill battle in ensuring essential military aid from the US in the run-up to a crucial November presidential election, as well as fending off a Russian assault on key Ukrainian positions and the country’s energy grid before the winter.
During his trip to the US, Zelenskyy must navigate an increasingly complex political landscape, where the Biden administration has proved to be a cautious ally in agreeing to Ukrainian requests for greater military aid and lifting restrictions on long-range missile strikes into Russia. On Wednesday, NBC reported that the White House had overruled Pentagon officials who had proposed providing Ukraine with white phosphorus munitions for use on the battlefield.
At the same time, the coming elections could deliver a victory for Donald Trump, an erratic politician who has said he would cut off aid to Ukraine if elected president to hasten a deal to end the war.
Trump will not meet Zelenskyy during the Ukrainian leader’s trip to the US this week, his aides have told US outlets, despite earlier plans to arrange talks. Trump at a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia this week praised Russia’s military record and criticised Zelenskyy as a the “greatest salesman on earth”, erroneously claiming that “every time Zelenskyy comes to the United States, he walks away with $100bn”.
The collapse in talks followed Zelenskyy’s remarks in an interview with the New Yorker in which he praised Trump but called his running mate, JD Vance, “too radical”.
In the interview, Zelenskyy did say that he had spoken with Trump by telephone and that “his message was as positive as it could be, from my point of view. ‘I understand,’ ‘I will lend support,’ and so on.”
But he sharply criticised Vance, who had earlier said a peace in Ukraine could entail Russia retaining the Ukrainian land it had occupied and establish a demilitarised zone with a heavily fortified frontline to prevent another Russian invasion.
“His message seems to be that Ukraine must make a sacrifice,” Zelenskyy said in the interview. “This brings us back to the question of the cost and who shoulders it. The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable. But I do not consider this concept of his a plan, in any formal sense.
“It’s just sloganeering,” he added.
Those remarks have angered Republicans, who will be crucial allies for Ukraine whether or not Trump wins the White House in November, as support in Congress will be essential for ensuring future military aid packages.
“I don’t mind him going to a munitions plant thanking people for helping Ukraine. But I think his comments about JD Vance and President Trump were out of bounds,” said the Republican senator Lindsey Graham, according to US-based Punchbowl News. Graham was referring to Zelenskyy’s recent visit to a factory in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
In advance of the meetings in Washington, US officials said that the plan would include requests for significant support in three areas: military aid, economic support, and political “assurances that their future is part of the west”, according to a senior state department official briefed on parts of the plan.
“They’re sort of testing elements out, but I think we won’t know the full nature of the package until the president has a chance to hear it first on Thursday,” the official said.
In particular, Ukrainian officials had been in consultations with US officials about what military support they would need in order to prevent further losses on the frontlines. Russian forces are threatening Ukraine’s position in the Kursk region after Ukraine’s surprise offensive into Russian territory, as well as the crucial Ukrainian road and rail hub of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.
A US official said: “The focus of the discussion is about helping them maintain the battlefield they’ve got, to prepare for 2025 so that they’re able to show Putin that they can fight. And then, have a discussion whether they’d be open to looking at a ceasefire, or anything else.
“It’ll be their decision, and we’re just trying to be sure that they’re prepared to make the choices that they feel is in the best interest of the Ukrainian people.”
The White House and European allies are understood to be trying to rein in a Ukrainian wishlist that some have described as maximalist.
Asked about the gap between what Ukraine is asking for and what the US is ready to provide, the US official replied: “I don’t see it as a real gap. Again, it’s a substantive conversation about what the military strategy is and the way that different weapons from different sources might play a role. So it’s not a gap, it’s a problem to be analysed in terms of a ceasefire.”
