By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has commenced a tour of Europe, aiming to bolster military and financial support in the war with Moscow that broke out since 2022.
Zelenskyy who arrived London on Thursday met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte where he presented his “victory plan”.
According to the Ukrainian leader, the document is a blueprint aimed at ending the war, which he had earlier described as an appeal to allies “to strengthen us, in terms of security guarantees, in terms of weapons, in terms of our future after this war”.
Starmer confirmed before the meeting that it was a chance to “go through the plan, to talk in more detail”.
Zelenskyy was scheduled to present the plan at a high-level meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Germany this week.
The summit was however postponed after US President Joe Biden shifted the date of his visit to monitor Hurricane Milton.
Zelenskyy’s tour comes as the war with Russia drags on with no end in sight, draining government coffers.
Ukraine’s parliament on Thursday approved the country’s first major wartime tax increases to help raise a projected $12bn needed by the end of 2024 for defence.
Zelenskyy says his country desperately needs more aid to tip the balance of the war and secure victory on the battlefield as Russia captures dozens of small towns and villages in the disputed east.
The United Kingdom has been one of Ukraine’s key backers in its two-year-plus fight against Russia’s invasion, committing to delivering 3 billion pounds ($3.9bn) of military aid every year for as long as needed.
Aid from the United States has remained uncertain, especially with the upcoming presidential election in November.
Heritage Times HT reports that Zelenskyy had last month met with Joe Biden at the White House where the duo discussed Washington’s support for Kyiv in its defence against Moscow’s invasion.
The US leader “outlined his decision to surge US security assistance to Ukraine, and President Zelenskyy presented his plan to achieve victory over Russia,” the White House said in a statement.
The details of the plan has not been made public.
