Pressures Washington to use long-range western weapons in Russia it exercises Kiev. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that his troops’ invasion of Kursk is part of a “victory plan” he will present to US President Joe Biden next month, adding that it was up to him to implement it.

Speaking at a forum on Tuesday, President Zelensky said that the success of the plan it will depend on President Beiden, and from whether the US will give Ukraine “whatever included in this plan or not [και] whether we shall be free to use this design, or not.’ His remarks are being interpreted as an attempt by Zelensky to pressure the White House to use Western long-range weapons deep into Russian territory. Such a perspective, however, makes Moscow react with “nuclear threats”.

“It may sound too ambitious for some, but it’s an important plan for us,” he added, clarifying that he would show the plan to both US presidential candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Ukrainian forces invaded Russia’s Kursk region in early August, and Russia appears to have been unable to deal with them so far.

Speaking at the same forum, Kiev Ukraine’s top military commander, General Oleksandr Shirsky, announced that Ukraine now controls 1,294 square kilometers of Russian territory and 100 settlements – although this information has not been independently verified.

General Sirsky insisted that Ukraine has no intention of holding onto Russian territory, and that one motivation for the invasion was to distract Russian forces from their own offensive in eastern Ukraine. Russia seeks to capture the city of Pokrovsk, which is an important railway and transport hub.

President Zelensky also revealed that Ukraine recently conducted the first successful test of a domestically manufactured ballistic missile. He praised his country’s defense industry but declined to share more details about the missile.

Although Ukraine has already used some US-supplied ballistic missiles against Russia, it is working to develop domestic production of military hardware to reduce its dependence on Western aid.

However, for now, Ukraine relies mostly on military supplies from abroad to fight Russia and repel its attacks. At the forum, President Zelensky also announced that Ukraine used some F-16 jets sent by Western countries to intercept some of the missiles fired by Russia in recent days – but he added that his country needs more fighters.

Over the past two nights, Russia has been hitting Ukraine with a barrage of deadly drone and missile attacks that have caused blackouts in parts of the country.

Such attacks show that Moscow has no intention of stopping the war, noted President Zelensky: “When they want [ειρηνευτικές συνομιλίες]they don’t launch 230 airstrikes.”

After the invasion of Kursk, however, Russia has made it clear that it will not participate in peace talks with Ukraine.

The Ukrainian advance in Kursk seems to be causing nervousness in Moscow at the same time, as well as the pressure exerted by Kiev to hit targets deep in Russian territory.

Sergei Lavrov warned the West on Tuesday of repercussions should Ukraine use Western long-range weapons as it seeks. Lavrov threatened that Russia is “adjusting” its nuclear weapons doctrine and that it is dangerous for Western nuclear powers to “they are playing with fire”.

Russia’s foreign minister said Ukraine’s demand to be allowed to strike deep into Russian territory with Western weapons amounted to blackmail, Reuters reports.

“Americans implicitly associate talk of World War III as something that, God forbid, if it happens, will only concern Europe” Lavrov said.

“The issue of negotiations at the moment has essentially lost its importance,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.