Ukraine's Zelenskyy to present 'victory plan' in Ramstein

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that he would present his country's "victory plan" at a regular meeting of Kyiv's supporters in Ramstein, Germany, on October 12.

The plan, whose details have not yet been made public, has already been shown to US President Joe Biden and both presidential candidates running for the White House in the November elections.

The meeting at the US air base in Ramstein, near Frankfurt, is expected to be attended by more than 50 of Ukraine's allies, including Biden.

Plan faces criticism

"We are preparing for the 25th Ramstein meeting on October 12, which will be the first to take place at the leaders' level," Zelenskyy wrote on the messaging app Telegram.

"We will present the victory plan, clear, specific steps for a just end to the war," he added.

The plan has been mentioned several times by Kyiv in the past months as Ukraine fights against invading Russian troops that began their assault on the neighboring country almost 1,000 days ago.

The US State Department spokesman said the plan contained "a number of productive steps" on which the US would engage with Ukraine.

However, the Wall Street Journal newspaper has cited anonymous US officials as saying the plan contains no comprehensive strategy for defeating Russian forces and instead simply reiterates Kyiv's frequent demands for more weapons and permission to use Western long-range weapons on targets within Russia.

Claimed Russian advance

The news comes as Russia's Defense Ministry said that its forces had captured the village of Zhelanne Druhe in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, according to the state-run TASS news agency.

Russia has claimed to have annexed the entire region but currently controls just some 60% of the region.

However, its forces continue to make slow advances, albeit with very high reported losses.

On Wednesday, Kyiv's forces announced they had withdrawn from the mining town of Vuhledar.

tj/rm (Reuters, dpa)