A plan to end the war in Ukraine : this is what Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated he wants to present to US President Joe Biden and the candidates for the White House, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump . The need to consult Washington, the Ukrainian president stressed from the Cernobbio forum, stems from the fact that " there are some points that depend on America ."
A particularly important note in days when the discussion between Kiev and Washington on the possibility of using weapons supplied by the US to strike deep into Russian territory is becoming increasingly thorny. Zelensky had already spoken of the plan on August 27, the anniversary of his country's independence. "We want guarantees," he reiterated yesterday. Probably American guarantees of defense from possible new attacks by Moscow even after the current conflict is over.
But also, it seems, the guarantee that the United States will not go over the head of the Ukrainian government to seek a compromise with Russia. In recent days Zelensky has said he wants to push Moscow to negotiate using two means: the first is the offensive in the Russian region of Kursk , the second is the possibility of using missiles supplied by the US and other NATO countries to hit those Russian airports - no more than 300 kilometers from the border, he promises - from where the bombers take off to carry out raids on Ukraine .
Washington has not yet clearly expressed itself for or against the Kursk offensive. As for the use of missiles against Russian territory, the American administration continues to oppose it . After Zelensky's meeting yesterday in Germany with the defense ministers of the Ramstein Group countries, the American defense minister Lloyd Austin expressed his opposition, stressing that the Ukrainian strikes would not represent a turning point. "There is no capability that will be decisive in this war," said the Pentagon chief.
On the ground, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced that Russian troops have captured another settlement in eastern Ukraine. It is Kalinovo, in the Donetsk region . In the same region, Ukrainian sources confirmed a Russian shelling of the town of Kostyantynivka with a toll of three dead and three wounded.
