What does Volodymyr Zelensky's presence at the European Council mean?

What does Volodymyr Zelensky’s presence at the European Council mean?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lands in Brussels to meet EU leaders and present his “plan for victory” against Vladimir Putin’s Russia. But in the background, above all, there is the continuation of the military and financial aid program to Kiev by the West

The themes

The President of the European Council Charles Michel announced that he had invited Zelensky to attend the EU summit to take stock of the latest developments in the war of aggression that has been affecting his country for almost three years now. Only last week, Zelensky toured the main European capitals, including Rome, trying to secure as much financial and military support as possible from European allies.

The Ukrainian president fears that a victory for Donald Trump in the United States could irreversibly compromise Kiev’s position. The former president and current Republican candidate has long said that if he won November’s election he could end the war in the blink of an eye, and Zelensky fears that Trump’s “peace” would come on terms more palatable to Moscow than Kiev .

Support for Ukraine will be a topic on the table of EU heads of state and government, as will condemnation of third countries that continue to supply weapons and war materials to Russia. There will also be a call to strengthen sanctions and, probably, an attempt to support the countries that welcome the fleeing Ukrainian refugees.

The Italian position

As for Italy, diplomatic sources claim that Rome is trying to put pressure on the United States to participate in the maxi-loan to Ukraine agreed at the G7 which took place before the summer. This is as much as 45 billion euros which will be repaid with the profits generated by the frozen Russian assets. Washington had made its economic contribution conditional on changing the frequency with which Brussels imposes sanctions on Moscow.

The EU sanctions are in fact renewed every six months, while the USA would prefer to extend the renewal to 36 months, in order to have greater certainty on their application and not remain at the mercy of a possible veto by some other country. The reference is clearly to Viktor Orban’s Hungary. The extension of the sanctions “will be discussed again in November”, Budapest said. That is, after the American elections. The possible return of Donald Trump to the White House could in fact have an impact on the situation in Ukraine.

The plan for victory

In Brussels, Zelensky will also talk about his “plan for victory”. It is, essentially, a package of requests to EU leaders that aim to give Kiev more tools to counterattack Russia. First of all, there is the question of restrictions on the use of Western weapons, which Ukraine would like to use to strike a series of targets on Russian territory. Then there is the question of joining NATO, which Kiev would like to accelerate immediately, and not after the end of the war.

Zelensky then proposes to deploy a complete package of non-nuclear strategic deterrence on Ukrainian territory, which should serve to protect the country from any military threat coming from Russia. Furthermore, the plan calls for partners from the European Union and the United States to sign a special agreement on the joint use of Ukraine’s critical resources, such as lithium, gas, titanium and others, and to produce energy together in the future.