Zelensky to defend 'victory plan' for Ukraine at summit

President Volodymyr Zelensky will defend his "victory plan" for Ukraine to EU leaders and NATO defence ministers, as Kyiv continues its battle against the Russian invasion.

More than two and a half years into the war, Ukraine is losing new territory almost daily in its eastern Donbas region and is under mounting pressure to forge an exit strategy - which it says must start with ramped-up Western support.

"Now we are on the way to Brussels," Mr Zelensky said in a video he posted while making the journey to Belgium.

"I will present the victory plan, our tool for forcing Russia to peace. All European leaders will hear how we need to strengthen our position. We need to end this war justly."

Mr Zelensky is due to attend the EU summit where he will address the media, followed by a joint press conference with NATO chief Mark Rutte later in the day.

While calling it a "strong signal," the NATO secretary-general cautioned a day earlier that he was not endorsing Mr Zelensky's "whole plan", which pushes for an immediate invitation to join the US-led alliance - a request widely seen as unrealistic.

NATO countries have declared Ukraine to be on an "irreversible path" to membership.

However, the United States and Germany have led opposition to their immediate entry, believing it would effectively put the alliance at war with nuclear-armed Russia.

Washington's ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, hammered the message home, saying: "We are not at the point right now where the alliance is talking about issuing an invitation in the short term."

The US position is unlikely to shift whether presidential candidates Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the White House on 5 November but there are fears a second Trump term could dismantle the support Ukraine receives from NATO's biggest power.

Insiders agree the sticking point at the NATO talks will be the contest playing out across the Atlantic.

"We are in a kind of waiting mode," summed up one NATO diplomat.

Pressed on the membership question, Mr Rutte reiterated NATO's party line, saying: "I cannot today now exactly sketch out what the path will be, but I am absolutely confident that in the future, Ukraine will join us."

But Ukraine's allies understand time is of the essence.

"It's a very difficult period, the worst since the beginning of the invasion," said a second NATO diplomat, who wished to remain anonymous.

In addition to membership, Mr Zelensky's plan rejects any territorial concessions and calls for Western allies to lift restrictions on using donated long-range weapons to target Russian military sites.

According to the Ukrainian president, an annexe - shared with the US, Britain, France, Italy and Germany - involves deploying a "non-nuclear strategic deterrence package" on Ukrainian territory to discourage future Russian attacks.

None of the proposals have so far earned public backing from Western capitals.

For NATO in the meantime, Mr Rutte said the focus was on keeping "massive military aid moving into Ukraine" in order "to make sure that if ever one day Mr Zelensky and his team decide to discuss with Russia how to end this, that he will do this from a position of strength".

For a third NATO official, the setbacks inflicted on Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion are already sufficient to justify seeking a negotiated outcome, rather than letting the war drag on indefinitely.

"There are various ways to define victory or to define defeat," they said. "He has lost already because his initial aim was to capture Kyiv, to kick out the government, to send Mr Zelensky into exile and to install a puppet regime."

On the eve of the NATO meeting, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for alternative options that would end the war, potentially including talks with Mr Putin.

But according to an alliance diplomat other voices still fear that anything short of an outright victory for Kyiv would spell "disaster", ensuring that an emboldened Russia would not stop there.

High hopes were pinned on a meeting of Ukraine's backers including Washington at the Ramstein US air base in western Germany, but the meeting was called off and may not be rescheduled before the US election.

In the meantime, as Russian forces pound its cities and infrastructure, Ukraine is pleading for ramped-up air defence systems, however, no new announcements are expected from NATO on that front.