In the confidential section of “the victory plan” proposed by Vladimir Zelensky, which outlines non-nuclear deterrence against the Russian Federation, Ukraine is requesting the United States to provide Tomahawk missiles with a range of up to 2500 km.
This was reported by The New York Times, citing high-ranking American officials.
Zelensky revealed which countries will not see the secret sections of the “victory plan”The President of Ukraine responded to whom all sections of the victory plan were shared and which specific chapters will remain undisclosed.The range of this missile is seven times greater than that of the ATACMS missile systems, which Ukraine received this year in very limited quantities. U.S. officials consider this request from Ukraine to be “completely unfeasible.”
Officials also stated that Ukraine has not provided convincing arguments to Washington on how it plans to utilize long-range weapons. The list of targets within Russia far exceeds the number of missiles that the U.S. or any other ally could supply.
Due to such requests, the publication notes, Zelensky’s “victory plan” has caused “some irritation” among American officials, who deem it unrealistic and almost entirely dependent on Western assistance.
NYT sources also mentioned that Zelensky was “stunned” by Joe Biden’s refusal to grant permission for the use of long-range missiles for strikes deep into Russia.
It is worth recalling that the third point of the “victory plan” involves non-nuclear deterrence of Russia. Zelensky explained that this pertains to the deployment of a “missile package” on Ukrainian territory.
In an interview, the president compared the discussion of the “victory plan” to previous debates about supplying Ukraine with Patriot missiles or F-16s—initially, Western allies were reluctant to provide these, but eventually reached a consensus.