Kremlin says Zelenskyy plan to end conflict fraught with direct collision between Russia, NATO

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented a plan to end the conflict with Russia that pushes a confrontation between Moscow and NATO instead of peace.

The essence of Zelenskyy's "peace plan" is to formalize NATO's direct involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, he said at a news conference in Moscow.

"He kind of says -- yes, guys, you participated before, but like unofficially. Now let's make it official, let's have NATO here," said Peskov. "It's short-sighted, reckless, illogical in his situation."

Peskov called Zelenskyy's initiative a "plan for further escalation than peace" aimed at "bringing the situation to the edge of the Russia-NATO collision."

Commenting on the reaction from the West to Zelenskyy's plan, Peskov said he had an impression that Western countries "were obviously not happy with the 'settlement plan.'"

"We can see by the reaction of the Europeans, even by the reaction to the fact that they are not at all happy to hear such illogical, well, frankly, stupid proposals," he said.

Zelenskyy presented his vision for ending the conflict to the Ukrainian parliament, Verkhovna Rada, on Oct. 16. It includes an immediate invitation to NATO, the transfer of new military assistance to Ukraine, strikes with long-range weapons deep into the Russian Federation and the use of a European air shield to protect Ukrainian territory.

The plan provides for the post-conflict reconstruction of the country with the support of Western countries and the creation of a "containment package," which implies the deployment of Western missiles on Ukrainian territory.