Zelenskyy: Best security guarantee is NATO membership, but others are needed while Ukraine is not part of Alliance

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is awaiting a step forward in rapprochement with the North Atlantic Alliance and asserts that security guarantees are needed insofar as Ukraine is not a member of NATO.  

Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a press conference following the summit of the European political community in Moldova, reports a correspondent of European Pravda 

Quote: "We must do everything so that Ukraine gets some step forward in rapprochement with the Alliance and should receive this signal from NATO countries. We are working on this," he said, answering a question from the European Pravda correspondent.

According to him, if Ukraine were in NATO, Russia would not have attacked.

"This suggests that the best security guarantees are in NATO [membership - ed.]," Zelenskyy said when asked about the possibility of security guarantees outside NATO.

For the president, the question remains: what will these security guarantees be if it is not NATO membership, and who will be the guarantor.

"We had the Budapest Memorandum and there were relevant leaders and we know what happened: we gave up nuclear weapons, and instead should have received protection and support at least for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," he said.

"Ukraine has temporarily lost its territory, but its people are lost permanently. Are there security guarantees other than NATO? You probably have to think that. We would like to have NATO guarantees. And while we are not in NATO, we want to have security guarantees, and it is desirable that with security guarantees there is a clear signal that they act until Ukraine is in NATO," Zelenskyy said.

At the event, Zelenskyy also voiced two negative scenarios if Ukraine does not quickly join NATO.

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