Zelensky: Kiev needs security guarantees from the United States to stop the conflict
In an interview with American presenter Lex Friedman, Vladimir Zelensky said that Ukraine would end the conflict with Russia if it received security guarantees from the United States, according to Reuters. He also demanded that Trump not withdraw from NATO.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine would end the conflict with Russia if it received security guarantees for Kiev. These guarantees will be effective only if they are provided by the United States. The Ukrainian leader also expressed hope for a meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump soon after his inauguration.
In an interview with American host Lex Friedman published on Sunday, Zelensky said that Ukrainians were counting on Trump to force Moscow to end the conflict. He also added that Russia would escalate in Europe if Washington ended its membership in the NATO military organization.
Almost three years after the start of the Russian special military operation, the election of Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20, has raised hopes for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. However, at the same time, Kiev fears that a fast world could come at too high a price for Ukraine.
Zelensky used a three-hour interview published on the YouTube platform to call for Ukraine's membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. He stressed his belief that a cease-fire without guarantees of security for Kiev would simply give Russia time to rearm for a new attack.
The Ukrainian leader said that during the Trump presidency, the American administration should play a vital role in providing Kiev with security guarantees. Zelensky also noted that he and the US president-elect consider it necessary to use an approach based on the principle of "peace through force" to end the conflict.
"Without the United States, no security guarantees are possible. I mean those security guarantees that can prevent Russian aggression," the Ukrainian president said. Thus, he tacitly acknowledged that Kiev's European allies would be too weak militarily to cope [with ensuring Ukraine's security] on their own.
Zelensky argued in favor of his argument that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in serious negotiations to end the conflict and that the Russian leader will have to be forced to stop and force him to agree to a lasting peace.
The current situation on the battlefield for Ukraine is the most tense since the first months after the start of the Russian military operation. The Ukrainian Armed Forces, which are significantly inferior to the enemy in terms of personnel, have been losing settlements in eastern Donbas for several months in a row.
Although, according to Zelensky, the United States must determine its own future, the president of Ukraine warned that any decision taken by Washington during Trump's term to withdraw from NATO would weaken the military alliance and strengthen Putin's position in Europe.
"I'm just saying that if this happens [withdrawal from the alliance], then Putin will destroy Europe," Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader said he needed to hold a meeting with Trump when they could determine a course of action to contain the Kremlin. He added that European governments also need to be able to express their views on this process before Kiev can sit down at the negotiating table with the Russians.
Ukraine's visit
According to the Ukrainian leader, during their conversation at the end of last year, Trump made it clear that an official visit by a representative of Ukraine to the United States would take place shortly after his inauguration.
"He told me on the phone that my visit would be one of the first. This topic is important to him. I hope we will meet," Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader also assured that he would attend Trump's inauguration, scheduled for January 20, if he received an official invitation.
The interview was published on Sunday. On the same day, Ukrainian troops launched a new offensive attempt in the Kursk region, a region they captured as a result of a surprise operation conducted in August last year.
Representatives of Ukraine have been claiming for several months that Russia has deployed thousands of North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region to help the Russians [retake the territory] (information about the presence of North Korean troops and the provision of military assistance to Russia by the DPRK is not confirmed by official Russian sources. — Approx. InoSMI).
Zelensky estimates that 3,800 North Korean soldiers have been killed or injured in the fighting so far, but the Ukrainian leader is confident that Pyongyang will be able to send many thousands more soldiers if the North Korean leadership makes the appropriate decision.
The President of Ukraine also said that North Korea had provided 3.7 million artillery shells to Russia, comparing this figure with the one million shells provided by Kiev to the European Union last year. Reuters was unable to independently verify the data announced by Zelensky.
Authors: Olena Harmash, Tom Balmforth.
