By Andrew MacAskill, Alistair Smout and John Irish
LONDON/PARIS/ROME (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday discussed his proposed “victory plan” with the leaders of Britain, France and Italy, and the incoming head of NATO as he seeks to garner military support to put himself in a position for eventual peace talks.
Western officials and Zelenskiy have said the war with Russia is at a critical point. With a U.S election less than a month away and winter set to arrive in Ukraine amid a barrage of Russian strikes on key energy infrastructure, the Ukrainian leader is keen for the West to give further support to try to change the balance on the battlefield.
“The next peace summit has to be in November. The plan will be on the table…. early November the plan will be with all the details,” Zelenskiy told reporters in Paris when asked about a potential peace conference. He dismissed any talk of a ceasefire.
He gave no specific details either in London or Paris on the “victory plan”.
Zelenskiy earlier held talks with NATO chief Mark Rutte, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In addition to the “victory plan” they discussed whether Ukraine could use Western missiles against targets in Russia.
Zelenskiy has pushed for the United States and Britain to join France in letting it use long-range missiles donated by its allies inside Russian territory, something Rutte said had come up at the meeting.
“We discussed it today, but in the end it is up to the individual allies,” Rutte told reporters in Downing Street after the talks.
Starmer’s spokesperson said there had been no change to the UK government’s position on the use of long-range missiles.
Russia has previously said it would respond if Western countries allowed Ukraine to strike Russia with their missiles. President Vladimir Putin said last month that such a decision would mean NATO countries were directly fighting with Russia and that “the very essence of this conflict will be changed”.
UKRAINE’S POSITION
Unlike Britain and the United States, France has said Ukraine should be allowed to use its SCALP cruise missiles, the French version of Britain’s Storm Shadow, to strike targets in Russia. It is unclear whether Ukraine has already done so.
Another ally, Italy, where Zelenskiy met Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday evening, is staunchly against Ukraine using its Storm Shadows to hit Russia.
However, Meloni said after their talks that Italy was determined to help Ukraine for as long as necessary.
“The aim of our support is to put Ukraine in the best condition possible to set up a negotating table for peace, a negotiating table that doesn’t mean surrendering, as too many have suggested in a cowardly fashion,” she said.
The meetings in Europe, along with one in Berlin on Friday, were aimed at presenting Ukraine’s position and possibly outlining its requirements for accepting future peace talks after a summit in Germany of its main backers was cancelled when U.S. President Joe Biden pulled out to focus on Hurricane Milton.
Zelenskiy said after the London meeting that he had spelt out how to create “the right conditions for a just end to the war” without going into detail.
In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron sought to show that his country is still fully behind Kyiv in its war despite political difficulties at home that have raised questions about how much help France will be able to give in the coming months.
Macron said France would keep to its current commitments, which include 3 billion euros ($3.28 billion) in support this year. Paris is training and equipping a brigade of 3,000 Ukrainian troops and plans to send Mirage fighter jets to Ukraine at the beginning of next year.
“It was important to exchange with the president on the coming weeks and months on military and diplomatic work (to come),” Macron said alongside Zelenskiy.
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(Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Crispian Balmer)
