Zelenskyy hopes agreements on security guarantees for Ukraine will be reached during NATO Vilnius Summit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that security guarantees for Ukraine ahead of its NATO accession should be enshrined in writing, and considers the NATO summit in Vilnius to be a "good platform" for reaching such agreements.
Source: President Zelenskyy in an interview with Ukrainian journalists
Details: Zelenskyy stressed that NATO membership would be Ukraine’s best security guarantee. Though this is impossible with hostilities still ongoing, Ukraine hopes to obtain security guarantees from its partners, enshrined in writing.
"I believe that [the NATO summit in Vilnius] is a good platform for this. Otherwise, why would we even attend if we can’t obtain guarantees or signals concerning our future membership in the Alliance? Why would we be invited to this summit at all?" Zelenskyy added.
"I want to be open with the [Ukrainian] people. If we come to realise that [NATO] is not interested in us joining, and if no one will commit [security] guarantees – serious legal guarantees, not Budapest guarantees – to paper, then what’s the point of the meeting? What will it achieve?" the president asked.
Still, he stressed his belief that Ukraine will obtain the security guarantees it wants; anything less than that would be a "politics of betrayal" on behalf of its partners.
Background: On 3 June, Zelenskyy said that he does not see the point of participating in the NATO summit in Vilnius unless Ukraine receives specific signals about when it can join the Alliance.
Kyiv has said that it is preparing to discuss two sets of issues during the NATO summit: political and practical.
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