Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that his country needs security guarantees from NATO and more weapons to defend itself before any talks with Russia.
He made the comments after meeting the EU’s new head of diplomacy Kaja Kallas and EU Council chief Antonio Costa, who were visiting Kiev to show support on their first day in office.
“The invitation to Ukraine to join NATO is a necessary thing for our survival,” Zelensky said at a news conference alongside Costa.
Ukraine faces a harsh winter ahead, with Russia launching devastating attacks on its power grid and Kiev’s exhausted forces losing ground on the front lines.
Questions are also looming over the future of US support after Donald Trump takes office in January, with fears he could force Kiev to make painful concessions in exchange for a quick peace deal.
Zelensky said his country needed to be in a “strong position” before any negotiations with the Kremlin, calling for “moving forward with NATO” and a “good number” of long-range weapons for its defense. .
“Only when we have all these things and we are stronger, after that, we will have to create a very important … agenda of meeting one or another of the killers,” the Ukrainian leader said. He said the EU and NATO should do the same. Join any conversation.
Costa said the EU would offer its “unwavering” support to Ukraine.
He told Zelensky, “We have stood with you since the first day of this war of aggression and you can count on us to continue to stand with you.”
The EU’s new leadership team is eager to show it is determined to support Kiev at a dangerous moment for Ukraine in almost three years of fighting against Russian aggression.
Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened this week to attack government buildings in Kiev with his new Oreshnik missile after the US gave Ukraine permission to fire long-range ATACMS missiles into Russia for the first time.
A Russian drone dropped explosives on a bus in the southern Kherson region on Sunday, killing three people, officials said, while Russian forces claimed to have captured two new border villages in the east.
Armistice?
Zelensky appeared to begin making his case on Friday ahead of any potential peace talks.
He called on NATO to provide guaranteed security to parts of Ukraine controlled by Kiev in order to “prevent a heated phase of war”, and said he was willing to wait for Russia to regain other areas seized. Will be ready.
“If our struggle continues without a strong position for Ukraine, Putin will return in two, three or five years,” Zelensky said on Sunday.
Kallas told journalists during a visit to Ukraine that “the strongest security guarantee is NATO membership” for Kiev.
“We definitely need to discuss this – how can we ensure peace if Ukraine decides to draw the line somewhere so that Putin doesn’t escalate further,” he said.
But NATO diplomats say the alliance is unlikely to grant membership to Ukraine any time soon, given opposition from a group of members wary of being dragged into a war with Russia.
Zelensky stressed that Kiev was not “illusioned” about its prospects with NATO and acknowledged that there was a deep reluctance on the part of leaders of countries such as Hungary, as well as US President Joe Biden.
‘Transactional Language’
Callas said the EU “shouldn’t really rule out anything” in terms of the question of sending European troops to help enforce any ceasefire.
“We should have strategic ambiguity around this,” he said.
Trump has cast doubt on continuing Washington’s comprehensive aid to Ukraine and has called on EU countries to do more.
Europe has spent a total of about $125 billion on supporting Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, according to a tracker from the Kiel Institute, while the United States alone has spent more than $90 billion.
Callas said the EU would use “transactional language” to try to convince Trump that it is in the US’s interest to support Kiev.
“Aid to Ukraine is not charity,” he said. “A Russian victory will certainly encourage China, Iran, North Korea.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
