By David Sole
For several months Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, had been promising to unveil his “Victory Plan” for fighting his U.S.-sponsored proxy war against the Russian Federation. Finally, on October 16 Zelensky made public his vision to the Ukrainian parliament. It included nothing new and no actual battle plans for the war Ukraine is currently losing. Western allies appear to have no enthusiasm for any of his proposals.
The BBC reported that:
“Key elements include a formal invitation to join NATO, the lifting by allies of bans on long-range strikes with Western-supplied weapons deep into Russia, a refusal to trade Ukraine’s territories and sovereignty, and the continuation into Russia’s western Kursk region.”
“Zelensky also criticized China, Iran and North Korea for their backing of Russia, and described them as a ‘coalition of criminals.’” He also put forward a call for “a non-nuclear deterrent package deployed on Ukrainian soil.” There were also three secret “addendums” to be shared with his Western proxy masters.
Western military aid to Ukraine continues to be sent to Ukraine, such as an arms package worth $425 million announced by the U.S. Department of Defense on the same day as Zelensky’s speech. This is the sixty-seventh package of military hardware shipped to Ukraine since August 2021 (before the Russian Special Military Operation).
The ”Victory Plan” has no specifics on military strategy to counter the broad military successes achieved by the Russian military, especially in the area of the western and southern Donetsk People’s Republic. Losses by the Ukrainians in troops and heavy weapons are occurring faster than they can be replaced. Numerous reports predict a possible collapse of the entire Ukrainian army.
Instead Zelensky wants immediate membership into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This is unlikely to happen since it would imply that the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union would be bound to directly intervene on Ukraine’s side. The demand by Ukraine to be allowed to fire Western donated long-range missiles deep into Russia would also be a dangerous escalation. Russia’s President Putin has stated that firing such long-range missiles, which require U.S. and other NATO troops to program and launch, would put the U.S. and NATO into a “state of war” with Russia. So far the Western powers have refused Ukraine’s previous requests on using long-range missiles in this way.
Talk of a “deterrent package deployed on Ukrainian soil” by Zelensky is a call for NATO non-nuclear military bases to be established. This is what prompted the 2022 Russian Special Military Operation in the first place. Secret addendums can be interpreted as even more dangerous. Direct support for Ukraine could include NATO planes and pilots entering combat.
Zelensky’s mention of his military incursion into Russia’s western Kursk province is especially bizarre. Tens of thousands of Ukraine’s best troops along with hundreds of tanks and armored personnel carriers were sent across the lightly defended Kursk border in early August, creating a salient. However, since that time Russia has strengthened its forces, surrounded the Ukrainians and proceeded to destroy the Ukrainian forces and equipment. Russia was able to do this without slowing down its broad offensives across the lengthy line of contact.
Zelensky’s mention of China, Iran and People’s Korea as supporters of Russia also ignores the broad support around the world for Russia in the conflict. Russia actually was responding to a decade of provocation, ever since the U.S.-CIA sponsored coup in February 2014 that installed the violently anti-Russian, pro-Nazi regime in Kiev. A civil war between the Kiev authorities and the large ethnic Russian Ukrainian population in the east was halted with the Minsk I and Minsk II agreements in 2015.
These agreements, however, were later admitted by Western powers’ leaders to have been agreed upon only to buy time for building up the Ukraine army. Meanwhile, a Rand Corporation strategic plan from 2019 for the U.S. advocated Ukraine being used as a proxy to wear down Russia in a protracted war.
When Russia finally sent troops into Ukraine it was to prevent that neighbor from allowing NATO military bases right on Russia’s extensive border with Ukraine. While Ukraine does the fighting and dying, the Western powers sought to bring Russia to its knees with economic sanctions and the seizure of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Russian assets in the West.
Economic warfare against Russia has fared just as badly as Ukraine’s military. And in retaliation Russia has taken several steps. On October 2 the Moscow Region Arbitration Court “froze funds of the U.S. Bank of New York Mellon held by the Russian branch of Citibank as well as funds of JP Morgan Chase held by its Russian affiliate amounting in total to about $372 million.” This action resulted from steps taken by Ukraine’s central bank against Russian economic interests.
On October 15 Russia also seized control of Glavproduct, a giant producer of canned foods in Russia that is U.S.-owned. According to RT, “Glavproduct, several of its subsidiaries, and three canning plants were seized and handed over to the Russian Federal Property Management Agency….The government will also take control of Glavproduct’s parent company….which is owned by the US-registered Universal Beverage Company.” The Management Agency had previously “established external control of the Russian subsidiaries of Finnish energy company Fortum and Germany’s Uniper, both of which were deemed critical to [Russia’s] energy security.” RT quotes the Kremlin as saying that these actions “mirror the attitude of Western states towards foreign assets belonging to Russian companies.”
The U.S. and other Western powers have not shown much enthusiasm for Zelensky’s proposals for “Victory” and have been restrained in their responses so far. But it should be assumed that a collapse of Ukraine’s military might drive the imperialist puppet-masters into dangerous adventures of escalation. Anti-war forces should be working now to alert the wider public that such escalations could trigger a much wider war.
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