The German government has long been aware of Ukraine's demands for comprehensive security guarantees from other states to secure a peace agreement with Russia.

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit reported on Wednesday in Berlin that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in "several" telephone calls whether Germany would be prepared to give security guarantees in the event of a peace agreement.

It is said that this was discussed during a conversation in the middle of last week.

Hebestreit said: "And the Chancellor has signaled a general willingness."

Eckhart Lohse

Head of the parliamentary editorial office in Berlin.

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Johannes Leithauser

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Michael Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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According to the government spokesman, however, it is too early for concrete commitments.

Berlin is sticking to the line of “not becoming a military player in this war”.

This should be understood as an indication that in Berlin, in connection with security guarantees for Ukraine, military elements are only thought of with the greatest reluctance.

Rather, it can be heard that the current sanctions against Russia as well as financial and humanitarian aid for Ukraine are far-reaching measures.

On Tuesday, Ukraine had demanded commitments that were as strong as the assistance obligations in the NATO treaty.

Restraint in Paris and Washington

In Paris and Washington they showed restraint.

The Elysée Palace said it wanted to understand exactly what Ukraine was looking for in terms of security guarantees.

There should also be another telephone call between Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday.

The White House said it was not yet possible to say anything more specific about security guarantees.

The chairman of the CDU in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Roderich Kiesewetter, said on Wednesday that the best security guarantee for Ukraine is to join the EU as quickly as possible, or at least to acquire a provisional status of membership, which is linked to the application of Article 42 of the EU treaty may be.

This article guarantees the EU members a mutual duty of assistance.

Other security guarantees are hardly credible and hardly practicable.

The FDP foreign politician Alexander Graf Lambsdorff stated that the demand for security guarantees follows the considerations that were decisive almost 30 years ago when the so-called Budapest Memorandum was concluded.

At that time, Ukraine, like Kazakhstan and Belarus, surrendered the Soviet nuclear weapons stationed on its territory to Russia in return for guarantees of sovereignty.

However, this memorandum, in which Russia, the United States and Great Britain acted as guarantors, did not prove to be effective.