European security guarantees alone won’t be enough, Zelenskyy says

Mariel Alumit

9 months ago

Security guarantees from European countries alone will not be “sufficient for Ukraine” and must be accompanied by US commitment, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after talks in Brussels on Thursday (19 December).

“I believe that only European guarantees won’t be sufficient for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told reporters after talks with EU leaders in Brussels.

“It is impossible to discuss only with the Europeans because the only guarantee, currently or in the future, is NATO,” Zelenskyy added.

“It is very important for us to have both on board, the United States and the Europeans (…) – a common decision,” he also said.

Zelenskyy’s comments come as European partners are scrambling to assure Kyiv of continued military support, and the strategic debates come just ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House next month and fears that he could pull US support for Kyiv and force it to make concessions to Russia.

Zelenskyy did not comment on whether he had received guarantees at Wednesday’s dinner on security guarantees for Ukraine hosted by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and several EU leaders.

”There are no decisions about it,” Zelenskyy said, adding that he was not able to share details “until decisions are made.”

“Peace through strength remains the motto,” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, who attended Wednesday’s talks, said when asked about how the meeting went.

“We explicitly did not talk about negotiations. We stated that Ukraine is the one who decides under what conditions talks can take place. That is not up to us,” Schoof added.

When meeting with EU leaders Thursday, Zelenskyy made a fresh appeal to European partners to coordinate their efforts to bring lasting peace to Ukraine, building on recent coalition-building efforts by European leaders to secure continued support for Ukraine in the event of any future ceasefire talks.

“We need coordinated work for lasting peace, not just the suspension of hostilities that Putin seeks to buy time. We must push Moscow towards genuine, sustainable and guaranteed peace,” Zelenskyy told the European leaders in the room.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who also attended Wednesday’s brainstorming dinner, told reporters that Europe “needed to secure long-term support for Ukraine.”

EU member states would need to take a look at what they can commit to in terms of air defence, artillery and ammunition “so that Ukraine can defend its independence and sovereignty,” Scholz added.

But when asked what more Europe could do to help, Zelenskyy criticised some European partners for not yet fulfilling their pledges, such as the training of brigades.

Regarding the request to train and equip 13 Ukrainian brigades outside of Ukraine, Zelenskyy said only two had been trained and equipped – one in France and one in Germany.

Zelenskyy also said his country needed at least 19 more anti-missile systems to protect its energy facilities this winter.

A number of EU leaders on Thursday also started to publicly caution that forcing Ukraine into rushed negotiations with Moscow would risk a “bad deal” for Kyiv.

“Any push for negotiations too soon will actually be a bad deal for Ukraine,” the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, told reporters in Brussels ahead of the summit talks.

“All the other actors in the world are carefully watching how we act in this case, and therefore, we really need to be strong,” she added.

[Edited by Daniel Eck]

Source: Euractiv.com

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