Ukraine’s Zelensky says Nato guarantees can end ‘hot stage’ of war
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky receiving an online briefing from General Oleksandr Syrsky, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces.
PHOTO: AFP
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KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Nov 29 for Nato to offer guaranteed protections to parts of Ukraine controlled by Kyiv in order to “stop the hot stage of the war”.
Mr Zelensky also implied he would be willing to wait to regain the almost one-fifth of his country that Russia’s army has seized, if such a deal could offer security for the rest of Ukraine and end the fighting.
The comments came amidst escalating tensions in the nearly three-year war.
Russia has this week threatened to strike government buildings in Kyiv and launched a massive aerial attack on Ukraine’s energy sector
“If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should take under (the) Nato umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” Mr Zelensky told Britain’s Sky News, according to a voiceover translation of his remarks from Ukrainian into English.
“That’s what we need to do fast, and then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically,” he added.
Talk of a possible ceasefire or peace deal has ratcheted up since Donald Trump won the US presidential election earlier in November.
The Republican has criticised US aid to Kyiv and claimed he could halt the conflict within hours, without saying how.
Russia controls around 18 per cent of Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory, including the Crimean peninsula which Moscow claims to have annexed in 2014.
Since invading in 2022, Moscow has claimed four more eastern and southern regions of Ukraine – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia – as its own, despite not having full control over them.
Kyiv has repeatedly ruled out ceding territory in exchange for peace, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded Ukraine’s army withdraw from swathes of more land.
‘Guarantees’
Mr Zelensky insisted any offer to join Nato must be given to the whole of Ukraine, but his comments about the “Nato umbrella” suggest he might accept the alliance’s practical protections, like the Article Five collective defence clause, to be extended to only territory controlled by Kyiv.
Such an arrangement would be necessary to ensure Russia does not attack again in the future, he said.
“If we speak (of a) ceasefire, (we need) guarantees that Putin will not come back,” Mr Zelensky said in English.
Mr Putin has previously called on Kyiv to renounce its Nato ambitions if it wants a peace deal.
With the conflict escalating on the battlefield, Mr Zelensky has held a string of phone calls with Western leaders
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke to Ukraine’s foreign minister on Nov 29 to brief him on “US goals for sustainable support for Ukraine”, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has stepped up its support to Kyiv since Trump won the election, transferring more weapons and giving Ukraine permission to fire long-range missiles onto Russian territory.
That move triggered a furious response in Moscow, with Mr Putin authorising the firing of a new hypersonic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro
Mr Zelensky on Nov 29 appointed a new land forces commander,
Maj-Gen Drapaty previously led forces in the north-eastern Kharkiv sector, defending against a surprise new Russian offensive earlier in 2024.
“These personnel decisions are aimed at strengthening our army, enhancing its combat readiness, and introducing new management approaches,” Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said. AFP
