President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, a one-time actor now making perhaps his most important visit to the United States in recent years, knows how to build dramatic tension.
For days, Mr. Zelensky and his team have talked about his planned speech Wednesday to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. And they have teased Mr. Zelensky’s “victory plan” in Ukraine’s war with Russia, which he won’t unveil publicly until presenting it Thursday to President Biden in Washington.
With his recent public messaging, Mr. Zelensky is well on his way to succeeding with what is likely his most achievable goal for his U.S. visit: trying to regain attention for a war that in its third year has been overshadowed by the conflict in Gaza.
“One of his main goals is to try to put the Ukraine war back on the global agenda” and the minds of policymakers in Washington and in Europe, said Max Bergmann, the director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He said Mr. Zelensky also wants to convince developing countries that have been neutral on the war to support Ukraine, a prospect that seems unlikely, given that they haven’t publicly backed Ukraine so far. “He sees an opportunity at the U.N. to put some international pressure on Russia as well,” Mr. Bergmann added.
This week, Mr. Zelensky will be pushing for all possible military aid, a shift in international thinking that says Russia cannot be defeated and long-term security guarantees to ensure support for Ukraine if Donald J. Trump, who has long been skeptical of U.S. involvement in the war, is elected in November.
In a speech Sunday, Mr. Zelensky foreshadowed his victory plan to end hostilities.
Mr. Zelensky said he would ask for “weapons to defend our independence and our people; diplomacy to consolidate partners and force Russia into peace; and justice so that Russia is held accountable for this war and feels its consequences.”
This visit comes at a crucial point in the war, with Ukraine on the defensive, despite a bold incursion into Russia’s Kursk territory this summer. Russian troops have made significant inroads in the east of the country, destroying Ukrainian villages as they churn forward, foot by foot, now occupying more than 18 percent of the country. Russia has more ammunition, more troops and more potential troops than Ukraine.
In a meeting with journalists Friday in Kyiv, Mr. Zelensky said he planned to use his visit to ask for more weapons and permission to strike inside Russia. All summer, Ukraine has pleaded to use Western-supplied long-range missiles to strike targets deep in Russia. Western leaders have been reluctant, fearful that could lead to an escalation with Russia, a nuclear power.
Analysts said they believe that Western leaders may relent and grant at least limited permission to use those weapons, especially after the Kursk offensive, which, despite using Western-supplied equipment inside Russian territory, didn’t lead to an escalation of the war.
Mr. Zelensky is also expected to argue that Ukraine should be invited into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and to try to build an amicable relationship with the next U.S. president in the hopes that they will not just match Mr. Biden’s commitment to Ukraine but increase it.
Mr. Zelensky plans to meet Thursday with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president. He then hopes to meet Thursday or Friday with Mr. Trump, who has said that he will “probably” meet with the Ukrainian president. A spokesman for Mr. Trump said on Monday that he had nothing to announce.
Analysts said it’s unlikely that Ukraine will be invited into NATO at this point, or that Western countries will commit more resources to the war.
Ian Bremmer, the president and founder of the Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting organization, said Mr. Zelensky “probably already received the peak of the economic and military support that he can get from the West.” He added that it was tough to defend the existing levels of spending, given fiscal and political challenges. “Nobody thinks that a victory plan is going to move the needle, particularly at this point.”
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