Russia Dismisses Zelenskiy’s ‘Victory Plan’ as Gambit to Keep West Onside 

A view shows a site of a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine September 15, 2024. (Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy via Telegram/Handout via Reuters)
A view shows a site of a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine September 15, 2024. (Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy via Telegram/Handout via Reuters)
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Russia Dismisses Zelenskiy’s ‘Victory Plan’ as Gambit to Keep West Onside 

A view shows a site of a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine September 15, 2024. (Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy via Telegram/Handout via Reuters)
A view shows a site of a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine September 15, 2024. (Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy via Telegram/Handout via Reuters)

Russia on Friday dismissed a "victory plan" elaborated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a gambit to keep the West onside and said it had nothing to do with the search for a diplomatic or political solution to end the war.

Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that his plan, full details of which he has yet to disclose, was complete after much consultation.

He is due to present it to US President Joe Biden and to address a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.

Zelenskiy has said his initiative is designed to create terms acceptable to Ukraine, now locked in conflict with Russia for more than 2-1/2 years.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that the plan looked like a self-interested gambit from the Ukrainian leader whom Moscow accuses of trying to drag the West into a full-blown war against Russia.

"The only goal is to forge or prevent the collapse of the anti-Russian coalition, and of course this has nothing to do with the task of finding a political and diplomatic settlement of the situation around Ukraine," said Zakharova.

She repeated Moscow's view that the West should stop financing and supplying arms to Kyiv and said any initiative purportedly aimed at reaching a peaceful settlement which did not include Russia was pointless.



Khamenei: Iran is Ready to Respond to Any Renewed Military Attack

A handout picture made available by the Iranian supreme leader office shows, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khameni speaking during a meeting with members of Iranian judiciary in Tehran, Iran, 16 July 2025. EPA/IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER OFFICE
A handout picture made available by the Iranian supreme leader office shows, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khameni speaking during a meeting with members of Iranian judiciary in Tehran, Iran, 16 July 2025. EPA/IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER OFFICE
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Khamenei: Iran is Ready to Respond to Any Renewed Military Attack

A handout picture made available by the Iranian supreme leader office shows, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khameni speaking during a meeting with members of Iranian judiciary in Tehran, Iran, 16 July 2025. EPA/IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER OFFICE
A handout picture made available by the Iranian supreme leader office shows, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khameni speaking during a meeting with members of Iranian judiciary in Tehran, Iran, 16 July 2025. EPA/IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER OFFICE

Iran is ready to respond to any renewed military attack, the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in comments carried by state TV on Wednesday, adding Tehran was capable of giving a bigger blow to adversaries than the one delivered during the 12-day Iran-Israel war last month.

He also accused the US of being an accomplice to Israel’s crimes, describing Israel a “cancerous tumor”.

He added: “Fighting the US and its ‘dog on leash’ Israel is praiseworthy”.