In Kyiv, Zelensky presents Ukrainian offensive in Kursk as ‘victory plan’ – Technologist

Three weeks after the offensive launched by his armed forces on Russian territory in the Kursk region on August 6, Volodymyr Zelensky justified the operation for the first time. Speaking at an undisclosed location in Kyiv on Tuesday, August 27, and in front of a large number of journalists, the Ukrainian president asserted that his army’s incursion into enemy territory was part of a “victory plan” to ensure that Ukraine presents itself in a position of strength at future peace negotiations. “The main point of this plan is to force Russia to end the war. And I want that very much – [that it would] fair for Ukraine,” he said, without giving further details.

The Ukrainian leader also intends to present this “victory plan” in September to US President Joe Biden, as well as to Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, both candidates for the US presidential election in November. “Of course, war will end with dialogue but Ukraine must be in a position of strength,” added Zelensky, who appeared after an initial speech by several high-ranking officials, including the head of his administration, Andriy Yermak; Defense Minister Rustem Umerov; and the prosecutor general of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin. The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrski, was also present via videoconference.

While Russia was not invited to an earlier peace summit in mid-June in Switzerland, which ended without much progress, Zelensky floated the idea in July of Russian representatives taking part in a second summit in the fall. According to Yermak, Ukraine would like this second meeting to take place in one of the countries of the Global South, which have so far adopted a position of neutrality in the war, and which Kyiv is trying to rally to its cause.

These statements come as the Russian president’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Tuesday that negotiations with Ukraine had “lost their relevance.” Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not want to end the war diplomatically without the condition that we give him 30% of our land,” the Ukrainian president castigated.

Signals to Western allies

The Ukrainian authorities believe that, in order to preserve its assets, Ukraine must maintain its positions in the Kursk border region, as its army, short of men and ammunition, continues to retreat in the face of Russian assaults in the Donetsk region in the country’s east. On Tuesday, General Syrski asserted that the armed forces were continuing to make progress in Russia, now controlling 100 localities over an area of 1.294 square kilometers, and holding 594 Russian prisoners of war. But he also acknowledged that the situation was more complicated than before, due to the dispatch of reinforcements. Moscow has reportedly redeployed 30,000 soldiers, most of them from southern Ukraine.

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