Russia says Zelensky 'victory plan' is pushing NATO towards direct conflict with Moscow

Russia on Wednesday denounced a "victory plan" presented by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he was trying to push NATO into a direct conflict with Moscow.

In his speech, Zelensky called on his allies to take urgent steps to bolster Kyiv at a precarious moment in a bid to end the conflict with Russia next year.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters the plan Zelensky unveiled to his parliament would lead to disaster for the Ukrainian people.

"He is pushing NATO into direct conflict with our country," Zakharova said, adding that Zelensky could not rely on his Western partners.

"I can simply tell Zelensky, if he is not aware... The partners of the Kyiv regime have already demonstrated how they see Ukraine in the security architecture: they see Ukraine in a coffin and Ukrainian citizens in the grave as well."

Russia has long accused the West of exploiting Ukraine to wage a proxy war against Moscow. The United States and its NATO allies say they are helping Ukraine defend itself against an unjustified colonial-style land grab.

Zakharova recalled a warning by President Vladimir Putin last month that the West would be fighting Russia directly if it allowed Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with Western-supplied long-range missiles.

Putin warned at the time that Moscow would be forced to take unspecified "appropriate measures" in such a scenario.

Zakharova said Zelensky therefore knew "perfectly well" what his appeals to NATO would lead to.

The Kremlin said earlier on Wednesday that it was too early to comment in detail on the Zelensky plan but that Kyiv needed to "sober up" and realize the futility of the policies it was pursuing.

NATO's Rutte aware of Ukraine 'victory plan,' discussing next steps

Rutte on Wednesday said the 'victory plan' presented by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy on Wednesday was a good signal, but that he was not able to support it as a whole as things stand.

"It is of course a strong signal from Zelenksy and his team that they designed this plan... That doesn't mean that I here can say I support the whole plan, that would be a bit difficult because there are many issues that we have to understand better," he said.

While reiterating a position that the process of making Ukraine a future NATO member - a key demand of President Volodymyr Zelensky - was "irreversible," Rutte said the victory plan included other elements and that he was discussing the full plan with members.

Zelensky said that an unconditional invite to join NATO was one of the points of his plan.

Rutte did not directly respond to Kyiv's demand for a formal invitation.

"NATO in Washington decided to make the path towards NATO membership for Ukraine (an) irreversible path," Rutte said. "We are in close contact with allies, with Ukraine, to see how we can take next steps, how to do that in a way which is also successful."

NATO allies have said Ukraine will join the alliance but also that Kyiv cannot join while at war and declined to put a timeline on membership.

"The victory plan, of course, we are very much debating with them and using every opportunity to take that one step by step further," Rutte said.