Mick Ryan
Over the past few weeks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has travelled through Europe and America to brief political leaders on his Victory Plan, designed to end the war on acceptable terms for Ukraine. Zelenskyy has also given speeches to the European Council and, on 16 October, his own parliament.
Zelenskyy made the following critical point about his plan: “we must implement the Victory Plan to force Russia to attend the Peace Summit and be willing to end the war.” The Victory Plan is thus a means to an end. Zelenskyy and his advisors understand that even if a military victory is achieved, it is politics that will determine the outcome of this war. For Ukraine, the desired outcome of the Victory Plan is forcing Russia to the table for negotiations to achieve Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula.
Thus, victory in war is about more than military success. In The Evolution of Strategy, Beatrice Heuser proposes that military victory may not result in the lasting achievement of war aims, and that “the most important aim in any war must be to make a just and durable peace. Victory is nothing if it does not lead to such a peace.”
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