Scholz comments on prospects of security guarantees for Ukraine

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that the West is ready to consider security guarantees for Ukraine, but "in peaceful times".

He said this in an interview that was broadcasted on CNN, in the Fareed Zakaria GPS program on Sunday, European Pravda reports.

The chancellor answered the question whether an agreement is possible, according to which Kyiv will be offered to accept the loss of part of the territories occupied by Russia in exchange for certain security guarantees from NATO or joining the European Union.

"We told them (Ukrainians) that they can apply for membership in the European Union. And they are working to achieve progress and implementation of the criteria that are important for this," Scholz said.

"I think that they (Ukrainians) know that we are ready to organise a certain way of guaranteeing security for the country in a peaceful time that will come. But we are not there yet," he added.

According to Scholz, Russian President Vladimir Putin must understand that he has to withdraw the troops; and this is the basic condition for negotiations.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Britain, Germany and France had offered Ukraine a rapprochement agreement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that would give it greater access to Western military equipment, but at the same time would involve the resumption of negotiations with Russia.

The German government denied this statement.

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