ZELENSKY: ‘AN UNCONDITIONAL INVITATION RIGHT NOW’: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Brussels today on a mission to sell his five-point victory plan, first at a European Council summit this morning, and later at an afternoon meeting with Secretary-General Mark Rutte at NATO Headquarters. And Zelensky’s big ask is for a symbolic but vital message aimed at convincing Russian President Vladimir Putin he can’t win: an invitation for Ukraine to join the 32-nation alliance.

“There is no alternative to democracy in Ukraine. That is why this is the initial point of the Victory Plan. The first and very important point. The sign of determination. This is what the invitation is. An unconditional invitation right now,” Zelensky said in a statement accompanying his five-point plan. “Ukraine’s invitation to NATO could become fundamental for peace and serve as a signal to the Russian dictator that his geopolitical calculations have failed.”