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Russia is trying to exclude the European Union not only from the diplomatic negotiations but also from any future security guarantees for Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in response to a question from Euronews at the European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday.
“No matter what signals Russia sends, we understand that they would like to exclude the presence of Europeans. This cannot be done,” Zelenskyy stated.
Ukraine’s president explained that a legally binding commitment from the European countries and the US security guarantees are “different things”.
European leaders vowed to protect Ukraine from Russia in the future, including by military means, at a meeting in Berlin on Monday.
In the most detailed outline yet of the security guarantees European countries are willing to provide to Ukraine, Kyiv’s allies stated they are ready to provide a European-led “multinational force” operating on Ukrainian soil, building on the work of the “Coalition of the Willing” chaired by France and the United Kingdom.
Zelenskyy rushed to insist that “this does not mean that if Russia attacks again, Europe will be able to fight with its presence. No, no one is saying that”.
“Europe’s presence reduces the chances of aggression by the Russian Federation. The number of countries and the number of national flags in the Coalition of the Willing, in any format, no matter the number,” he explained, answering Euronews’ question.
Europe’s commitment, even legally binding to assist Ukraine in case of a future Russian attack, cannot replace the US security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelenskyy added.
“We do not believe that Europe should replace the United States of America. And, of course, we feel the same way about the security guarantees of the United States of America, which will be Article 5-like, and we will not need European support.”
“When we talk about Article 5, NATO, we understand that this is a response to aggression. And we will discuss these details with our partners,” he said, admitting that not all details have been clarified and agreed upon at this stage.
“What will the United States do if Russia comes with aggression again? What will these security guarantees do? How will it work? How will all partners work together? How exactly will they stop Moscow, specifically,” Zelenskyy asked.
“I think we need an answer to this. It doesn’t have to be public, but it should be in documents,” he said.
But what is clear for Kyiv is that the US guarantees should be legally binding.
“We understand is that there must be a legally binding article, security guarantees from the United States of America, which must be supported by the US Congress,” Zelenskyy concluded.