Pallade Veneta - Zelensky seeks EU, NATO backing for 'victory plan'

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

"Ukraine is ready for real diplomacy, but for it, we must be strong," Zelensky said as he met with the EU's 27 leaders.

"Russia will resort to diplomacy only when it sees that it cannot achieve anything by force," Zelensky added. "This is the plan. This is exactly what's needed, and we must create the right conditions to end this war."

The Ukrainian leader has travelled to Washington, Paris, Berlin, Rome and London to promote his initiative, but it has yet to gain backing from Western capitals -- and his plea for an immediate invitation to join NATO is widely viewed as unrealistic.

Zelensky said after his EU talks that a large number of member states had voiced their "full support" for Kyiv.

The bloc's leaders in their summit conclusions reiterated their "unwavering commitment" to support Ukraine militarily and economically for "as long as it takes" -- but without referring specifically to his plan.

The EU recently approved loaning Ukraine up to 35 billion euros ($38 billion) backed by frozen Russian assets -- part of a bigger $50 billion initiative agreed by G7 powers in June.

But there were dissenting voices too.

Hungary's Moscow-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Orban posted on Facebook that Zelensky's roadmap was "beyond terrifying", urging France and Germany "on behalf of the entire European Union, to start negotiations with the Russians as soon as possible".

- 'All that we can' -

Zelensky later joined defence ministers at the first of two days of talks between NATO's 32 member states, addressing a joint press conference with alliance chief Mark Rutte.

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

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

The secretary-general stuck to the NATO line, saying: "I look forward to the day that Ukraine is here as a member of this alliance, and until then, we will continue to do all that we can to assure Ukraine prevails."

He did not refer directly to Zelensky's proposal, which also rejects any territorial concessions, calls for Western allies to lift restrictions on using donated long-range weapons to target Russian military sites and suggests deploying a "non-nuclear strategic deterrence package" on Ukrainian territory.

The US position on membership is unlikely to shift whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the White House in the US election on November 5 -- though there are fears a second Trump term could upend the support Ukraine receives from NATO's biggest power.

Ukraine's allies are well aware however that time is of the essence, with the outlook on the battlefield bleak.

On the eve of the NATO meeting, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for exploring ways to end the war -- potentially including talks with Putin.

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

- 'Position of strength' -

Driving home his appeal to Western leaders, Zelensky claimed to have intelligence that North Korea was training 10,000 soldiers to deploy with Russian forces against Ukraine -- calling it "the first step to a world war."

Rutte cautioned however that NATO has "no evidence that North Korean soldiers are involved in the fight," although Pyongyang was known to be fuelling Moscow's war effort in other ways.

In the meantime, the secretary-general said it was "essential that we continue to provide military aid."

Rutte said NATO was "well on track" to meet its July pledge to provide Kyiv a minimum of 40 billion euros ($43 billion) in military support in 2024, with 20 billion provided in the first half of the year.

But despite Ukraine's plea for stepped-up air defence systems -- as Russian forces pound its cities and infrastructure -- no new announcements were expected from NATO this week.

P.Colombo--PV