As defeats mount, Zelenskiy is pushing his ‘victory plan’. Could it work?

Ukraine is hoping western allies will get on board with the plan to end the war

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Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels, on October 17th. Photograph: Ludovic MARIN/ AFP
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels, on October 17th. Photograph: Ludovic MARIN/ AFP

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine will be left in an “extremely difficult” position in its war with Russia if western allies do not buy into his victory plan.

The plan, as Daniel McLaughlin tells In the News, includes a request that Ukraine be offered membership of Nato and that its western allies ramp up the supply of weapons and military supplies, as well as lift restrictions on his army using long-range missiles to strike deep in Russian territory. He is also warning that North Korea is now providing Russia with support in the war.

But as the war in Ukraine has fallen out of the headlines, replaced for public attention with the conflict in the Middle East, can he sell this victory plan to western allies, and does it have any hope for success as Ukraine loses ground in the attritional war where the death toll on both sides continues to mount.

And what is life like in Ukraine for the ordinary citizen as the war grinds on towards its third year. McLaughlin reports from Lviv.

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Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Casey.

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast