US SECURITY GUARANTEES WERE VITAL, UKRAINE SAYS
Ukraine is focused on obtaining Western security guarantees to deter future Russian aggression once a ceasefire enters force.
The US, Sybiha said, had confirmed to Ukraine that it was prepared to ratify security guarantees in Congress; it would then provide a security “backstop” to support the peace deal, though no US troops on the ground in Ukraine.
“I personally do not believe, at this stage, in any security infrastructure or architecture without the Americans…We must have them with us – and they are in the process. That’s a huge, huge achievement,” he said.
A statement issued after a meeting in Paris last month of the “coalition of the willing” said the allies would participate in a proposed US-led ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism. Officials have said this would likely involve drones, sensors and satellites, not US troops.
The foreign minister said some other countries beyond Britain and France, both already publicly committed, had confirmed their readiness to send troops to Ukraine as a deterrence force, but he declined to identify them.
Apart from “boots on the ground”, Sybiha said there should be a mechanism akin to the NATO alliance’s Article Five that classifies an attack on one member state as an attack on all. Ukraine’s proposed membership of the European Union would also provide an additional element of security, he said.
Zelenskyy has said Ukraine wants to join the 27-nation bloc by 2027, which would require significant reforms and legislation.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy raised concerns about bilateral talks between Russia and the U.S., which he said included a proposal from Moscow for US$12 trillion in investments.
Sybiha said some of these discussions could affect Ukraine’s sovereignty or security, and Kyiv would not support any such deals made without it.
He also said any country’s decision in the course of a peace settlement to recognise Russian sovereignty over Crimea or the Donbas, Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, would be “legally void”.
“We will never recognise this. And it will be a violation of international law,” Sybiha said. “This was not about Ukraine. It’s about principle.”