Don’t tremble at Putin’s threats, Zelensky urges West as Ukraine seeks backing for ‘victory plan’

Ukraine president sought vital backing from the EU and Nato in a hectic day of Brussels diplomacy

The free world “must not tremble” at Vladimir Putin’s threats, Volodymyr Zelensky has urged, as the Ukrainian president pressed for Nato and the EU to back his new “victory plan” to beat Russia.

In a hectic day of diplomacy in Brussels after unveiling the five-point plan he insists can end the war next year, Mr Zelensky sought to coalesce the support of Ukraine’s allies as he addressed European Union and Nato leaders in back-to-back meetings on Thursday.

With the plan hinging on the thorny issue of Nato membership for Ukraine, over which many of the military alliance’s member states are wary, Mr Zelensky underscored the test of allegiance facing Kyiv’s allies, declaring: “This plan doesn’t depend on Russian will, only on the will of our partners.”

And the Ukrainian president raised the stakes further as he painted the prospect of “the first step to a world war”, revealing that Kyiv held intelligence suggesting Russia’s ally North Korea was preparing 10,000 troops to fight in Ukraine – and alleged that some are already operating in occupied Ukrainian territory.

Addressing the European Council summit on Thursday morning, Mr Zelensky said his plan aims to strengthen Ukraine and pave the way for a diplomatic solution to end the conflict, insisting: “If we start now and follow the victory plan, we can end this war no later than next year.”

Speaking ahead of a further meeting with Nato ministers, he added: “An immediate invitation to Ukraine to join Nato would be decisive. Putin just must see that his geopolitical calculations are worthless. Putin must respect our strength, not have the free world tremble at his threats.”

While Ukraine’s neighbours Latvia and Estonia both swiftly back Ukrainian Nato membership, the alliance’s new chief Mark Rutte praised the plan as a “strong signal” but added: “That doesn’t mean that I here can say I support the whole plan. That would be a bit difficult, because there are many issues.”

Following Nato’s July vote to declare Ukraine’s path to membership “irreversible”, Mr Rutte reiterated on Thursday that Ukraine’s place is among the alliance’s ranks, but he would not say when it might join, saying: “The question is exactly about the ‘when.’ I cannot answer that now.”

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference on the sideline of a EU summit in Brussels (AFP via Getty Images)

He insisted that Kyiv can rest “absolutely assured that 32 allies are united in making sure that collectively, we will do whatever is needed to make sure that Ukraine can prevail, that Putin will not get his way.”

However, Mr Rutte said, Mr Putin must understand that “we are in this, if necessary, for the long haul. And obviously we want to be in a place where Zelensky and Ukraine, from a position of strength, is able to start talks with Russia.”

A draft copy of EU summit conclusions reaffirmed the bloc’s “unwavering commitment” to providing support to Ukraine and its people “for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed”, adding: “Russia must not prevail.”

Thursday’s talks come as Ukrainian troops are struggling to hold off better-equipped Russian forces, especially in the eastern Donetsk region where they are gradually being pushed back. Kyiv is surviving with Western help, but Ukraine says it is coming too slowly.

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda criticised slow Western decision-making over Ukraine and said it “would be a great mistake to think that our hesitance is the best way to de-escalation.”

Additional reporting by agencies