Ukraine gave up its NATO dream in exchange for security guarantees from the West

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine has given up its ambition to join NATO in exchange for security guarantees from the West.

Zelensky arrived in Berlin on Sunday (December 14th) to discuss the Ukraine issue with his American and European partners. He said in an interview with the media earlier that day that Ukraine would give up its membership in NATO and instead accept security guarantees provided by the United States, Europe and other partner countries. This was a compromise made to end the war with Russia.

Zelensky said, "Ukraine has hoped to join NATO from the very beginning. These are the real security guarantees." But some partners in the United States and Europe do not support doing so. Therefore, the current bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the United States, the security guarantees provided by the United States similar to Article 5 of NATO, as well as the security guarantees from European partners and other countries such as Canada and Japan, offer an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion. This is already a compromise for us."

He added that these security guarantees should be legally binding.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine officially abandon its accession to NATO and withdraw its troops from the Donbas region. The Russian side also holds that Ukraine must become a neutral country and must not have any NATO troops stationed there.

Zelensky said that Ukraine, Europe and the United States are studying a new 20-point ceasefire plan between Russia and Ukraine. He said that achieving a ceasefire at the current frontline is the fairest option and hopes that the United States will support doing so.

Zelensky said that the United States has not yet responded to Ukraine's proposal to modify the ceasefire. He pointed out: "The summit in Berlin is very important." We will meet with the US and European sides.

He also mentioned that due to Russia's air strikes on Ukraine's energy, heating and water supply systems, hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine are still without power at present. He said, "Russia is delaying the war and trying to cause as much harm as possible to our people."