6 saat önce

Russia: Ukraine's 'victory plan' to push NATO towards conflict with Moscow

Russia has long accused the West of exploiting Ukraine to wage a proxy war against Moscow and the United States and its NATO allies say they are helping Ukraine defend itself.

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Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova says Zelenskyy's plan would lead to disaster / File: Photo: AA

Russia has denounced a "victory plan" presented by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he was trying to push NATO into a direct conflict with Moscow.

In his speech, Zelenskyy called on his allies to take urgent steps to bolster Kiev at a precarious moment in a bid to end the conflict with Russia next year.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters on Wednesday that the plan Zelenskyy unveiled to his parliament would lead to disaster for the Ukrainian people.

"He is pushing NATO into direct conflict with our country," Zakharova said, adding that Zelenskyy could not rely on his Western partners.

"I can simply tell Zelenskyy, if he is not aware... The partners of the Kiev regime have already demonstrated how they see Ukraine in the security architecture: they see Ukraine in a coffin and Ukrainian citizens in the grave as well".

Zelenskyy's 'victory plan'

In a speech laying out his five-point plan to MPs, Zelenskyy said the solution to end more than two years of war was not a frozen conflict, and "not a trade in Ukraine's territory or sovereignty".

Zelenskyy reiterated calls for the West to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range arms on military targets deep in Russian territory.

Ukraine proposes "to deploy a comprehensive non-nuclear strategic deterrence package on its territory" that would be "sufficient to protect Ukraine from any military threat from Russia," Zelenskyy said.

After the war, the president said he envisaged "replacing certain military contingents of the US Armed Forces stationed in Europe with Ukrainian units".

In his speech, Zelenskyy criticised China, Iran and North Korea for supporting Russia, calling them a "coalition of criminals".

He said he would present the plan to European leaders at a summit on Thursday.