 "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. AP")
As the Donald Trump administration is preparing to start talks with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that any deal that does not include Ukraine will not be acceptable to his country.
Following talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the Trump administration is entering into talks with the Russian regime in Saudi Arabia this week . The talks are expected to start on Tuesday. The US delegation includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Ukraine has not been invited to join the talks.
While Trump had long indicated that his interest lies in ending the war at the earliest irrespective of the manner it ends, his top officials have outlined what the end of the war could mean over the last week. In a speech at a meeting of Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UFCG), Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that US security guarantees and participation in a post-war peacekeeping force and Nato membership for Ukraine were off the table. Even though US officials walked back on the remarks in less than 24 hours, the remarks were enough to drive home the message: Ukraine and Europe are on their own .
In an interview with NBC News, Zelenskyy on Sunday said that US security guarantees in one way or the other are a must in any peace agreement. He further said that Putin does not have eyes just on Ukraine but on entire Europe and if he is allowed to win against Ukraine, it is only a matter of time before he invades other European countries.
Zelenskyy further said that there could not be any North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) without the United States. The US withdrawal from Nato would mean the death of the alliance and translate into Russian occupation of large swathes of Europe by Russia, suggested Zelenskyy.
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View AllTrump doesn’t yet have a plan to end war, says Zelenskyy
Even though Zelenskyy has sought to appease Trump previously, he told NBC that there is no peace plan as of now with the Trump administration.
At best, said Zelenskyy, there are ideas, but there is no peace plan as such.
Zelenskyy said that “they don’t have a real plan because they can’t have it without us”. He further said that “maybe there are some ideas and I heard some ideas about the economy, how to secure economy, how to invest” but there was no plan on the table about security guarantees.
Zelenskyy further said that his talks with US Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference were about the economic partnership plan and not security guarantees.
That was an apparent reference to Trump’s plan to acquire Ukraine’s natural resources, including rare earth minerals, in lieu of assistance. However, Zelenskyy has rejected it as the current US proposal does not grant Ukraine any security guarantees in exchange of extracting its natural resources.
Zelenskyy went on to say that he and his country “will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine” without the country’s participation and agreement.
“We are thankful for all the support, unity between USA – in USA around Ukraine support, bipartisan unity, bipartisan support, we’re thankful for all of this. But there is no any leader in the world who can really make a deal with Putin without us about us,” said Zelenskyy.
‘Europe should be part of talks, Ukraine should be priority — not Russia’
Zelenskyy said that there is “disappointment” in Europe that the countries have been left out of talks between the United States and Russia.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the accompanying shadow war on the continent has plunged Europe in the biggest security crisis in the World War II. While Europe had so far been supported in the face of aggression by the Joe Biden administration of the United States, Trump has left them in a lurch. Owing to his longstanding friendly relationship with Putin, Trump has indicated that he is more interested in leaving Europe to its own fate, ending the conflict at the earliest irrespective of how it ends , and focussing on American affairs — or affairs in the American continent.
Zelenskyy said that the situation was not good as Europe and the United States need each other.
“I said to them that they have to be in unity with the United States. Otherwise, not only United States can lose Europe as a strategic partner, Europe also can lose the United States,” said Zelenskyy.
In an apparent remark on Trump’s ties to Putin, Zelenskyy said that “of course I wanted very much that Ukraine is in priority for Trump, not Russia and I hope that we are more important, more important”.
‘Putin doesn’t want peace, he wants all Europe’
When asked about his thoughts on Trump’s threats to quit Nato, Zelenskyy said that the step would mean the death of the alliance and may make away for Russia to occupy all of Europe as that’s what Putin wants.
Zelenskyy said that Putin does not just want Ukraine but all of Europe. He said “the risk that Russia will occupy Europe is 100 per cent”. He went on to explain that Russia is likely to start attacking nations that were once part of the Soviet Union and then move westward.
Zelenskyy further said that Europe will find it tough to fight Russia on its own as Russia has a much larger military.
Zelenskyy said that he has told Trump that Putin is “a liar, he doesn’t want any peace”. He repeated his previous claim that Trump can force Putin into making peace .
Zelenskyy seeks Israel-like security guarantees
When asked about the kind of deal he is seeking, Zelenskyy said that security guarantees are a must and the role of United States to such guarantees is central.
When asked how security guarantees may work without the protection of Nato, Zelenskyy gave the example of Israel. He said that the way the United States, United Kingdom, France, and other countries come to Israel’s aid in the face of Iranian attacks, security guarantees could similarly be arranged for Ukraine outside of the framework of Nato.
Israelis “have security guarantees, specific security guarantees from the United States, France, UK, and other allies” and Ukraine needs such guarantees “very much”, said Zelenskyy.
In the absence of such guarantees, Putin will only seek “artificial peace”, said Zelenskyy, adding that he would use the pause in the fighting to rearm and retrain its military and attack again in some time.
“Therefore, strong security guarantees because he will want to come back again. He did not win. Do you understand? He did not win Ukraine. It is insufficient for him,” said Zelenskyy.