Ukraine’s Zelensky city-hops across Europe, promoting ‘victory plan’ to allies
LA TimesFrench President Emmanuel Macron, left, greets his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Thursday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was city-hopping across Europe on Thursday to promote a “victory plan” that he said “aims to create the right conditions for a just end to the war” against Russia, detailing the proposals to European leaders after a scheduled summit involving President Biden was derailed by Hurricane Milton. Zelensky’s talks in London with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte were followed by another meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, who just the previous day sent a strong signal of support for Ukraine by visiting Ukrainian troops being trained in France. Zelensky said he hoped the meeting could be rescheduled soon and then embarked on his whistle-stop tour of European capitals that have been among Ukraine’s staunchest allies outside of the United States. Zelensky said Wednesday at a summit in Croatia with leaders of southeastern European states that the plan seeks to strengthen Ukraine “both geopolitically and on the battlefield” before any kind of dialogue with Russia.