As we recently discussed here, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has recently been in the process of taking a bit of a victory lap after he sent his troops into the rural Kursk Oblast in Russia, north of the Ukrainian border. They struck a couple of targets with some drones they developed domestically, so good for them. Of course, they had to give up some ground on the Eastern front as a result, but war can be complicated. Now, however, Zelensky seems to be ready to take things to the next level. He announced this morning that he has a "victory plan" that he will be presenting to President Joe Biden as well as both of the major party presidential candidates in the coming days. We haven't seen the plan yet, but it's coming with a few caveats, including whether or not Biden will "allow" him to implement it. What could possibly go wrong? (BBC)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his troops' incursion into Russia's Kursk region is part of a "victory plan" that he will present to US President Joe Biden next month.

Speaking at a forum on Tuesday, President Zelensky said the success of the plan would depend on President Biden and on whether the US would give Ukraine "what is in this plan or not, [and] whether we will be free to use this plan, or not".

"It may sound too ambitious for some, but it is an important plan for us," he added, saying that he would also show the plan to both US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Keeping in mind as always that we could still be dealing with some translation error issues, I suppose we should ask for a better definition of what "victory" would look like for Ukraine in this war. If it means driving Russia back to its own borders prior to the first invasion in 2014, that would be a remarkably ambitious plan and I would love to see the details, though I'm sure they would need to remain classified. If he meant forcing Russia's surrender, then the man sounds increasingly delusional.

But wait... I'm almost certain that I was recently informed by someone in Ukraine that "the enemy has been defeated." If Russia has already been defeated, why would you need another "victory" to defeat them again? The comments about whether or not Joe Biden will allow Ukraine to "use this plan" clearly seem to suggest that Zelensky is looking at hitting more targets deep inside of Russia, something that Biden has previously said they could not do with American weapons technology. 

From the beginning, I have questioned why we are flushing all of this cash and weaponry into Ukraine and then handcuffing them in terms of what they can do with it. At the risk of repeating myself, Volodymyr Zelensky has been sounding increasingly unstable of late, but the former comedian is the person that Ukraine's voters chose to lead them (allegedly) for better or worse. We somehow picked Joe Biden four years ago and we're dangerously close to replacing him with Kamala Harris. Nobody is going to come riding to our rescue. Perhaps it's time to unclip Zelensky's leash and let him strike where he wishes. While not trying to sound too callous or brutal, the pieces will fall where they may and we can debate the cleanup after it's over.

The point is that this is a war, not a political debate. Bad things happen in war. Zelensky is the leader of his people and what remains of his military. If he wants to organize a drive on Moscow and try to blow up the Kremlin, what happens after that will be his responsibility. Of course, if he ticks off the nuclear madman in charge of Russia too badly, we might wind up seeing some mushroom clouds on the horizon. But as long as they aren't blooming over America or any of our allies, well... sometimes you just have to play the hand you are dealt.