Security guarantees for Ukraine should be based on the provision by the guarantor countries of their military as soon as possible.

This was stated by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview with the Polish media.

“I know exactly what we need security guarantees, and I know exactly what we need, and we want to ask for exactly what we need.

The most important thing is people and deadlines, deadlines and people, no matter how cynical it may sound.

I think that for us our security guarantees should be in the formula "people - hours," Zelensky quoted TASS as saying.

According to him, analogues of such systems "should be located in certain parts of Europe", and they should work as a telephone for calling emergency assistance.

“We need security guarantees, namely “people-watches”.

And so the name there is working "United 24".

The decision is made on the first day, not on the second, not on the third, and the decision made in advance spells out the specifics: what this or that state should receive in the next day, depending on the threats.

For us, I call it 911, it's an ambulance," he explained.

This does not create a counterbalance to NATO, Zelensky argues, since the system he proposes is "parallel things."

In search of guarantors

Earlier, a similar system of security guarantees was described by the head of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada, David Arakhamia, who represented Ukraine in negotiations with the Russian Federation.

At the end of the meeting in Istanbul on March 29, Arakhamia stated that the creation of such a structure was proposed to the Russian side.

“We want this to be a working international mechanism with specific security guarantees for Ukraine, where the guarantor countries will be similar to Article 5 of the NATO Charter, but even tougher, because there is a motivation mechanism,” he said.

  • Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey

  • RIA News

  • © Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Istanbul

Arakhamia then added that security guarantors under this system would have to provide Ukraine with military assistance "with armed forces, weapons, closed skies."

Among the possible guarantors, he named the UK, the United States, France, Turkey, Germany, Canada, Italy, Poland and Israel.

In addition, he admitted that other countries that expressed such a desire would also be able to join the treaty.

Arakhamia specified that these guarantees would not apply to Crimea and Donbass.

It is worth noting that shortly after the talks in Istanbul, the American television channel CNN, citing "government sources," reported that the United States was unlikely to provide Kyiv with any security guarantees.

Thus, a number of US officials expressed surprise at the statements of the Ukrainian side, which claimed that Western countries are considering the possibility of providing Kyiv with legal security guarantees, the channel reports.

CNN notes that a number of Western officials are skeptical about this issue.

At the same time, Zelensky himself, on April 3, in an interview with CBS, thanked the Biden administration for its support, specifying at the same time that the United States did not provide security guarantees to Kyiv.

According to the Ukrainian leader, Kyiv has not yet received such guarantees from any of the countries.

In turn, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on April 22 that if Ukraine receives security guarantees, they will not be analogous to the provisions of the NATO treaty, in particular Article 5 of the Charter, which implies direct military intervention by all guarantors.

Johnson explained that the guarantee package would likely include support for education and training, weapons, and intelligence sharing.

Russia's position

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously commented on the issue of providing Ukraine with security guarantees during a meeting with UN Secretary General António Guterres on April 26.

The Russian leader stressed that after the talks in Istanbul, the Russian side faced a provocation in Bucha, after which the position of "negotiators from Ukraine on a further settlement has changed dramatically."

“They have moved away from their previous intentions to put aside the issues of security guarantees for the territories of Crimea, Sevastopol and the republics of Donbass.

They simply refused this and in their draft agreement on this matter, presented to us, simply indicated in two articles that these issues should be resolved at a meeting of heads of state, ”explained Vladimir Putin.

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin and UN Secretary General António Guterres

  • RIA News

  • © Vladimir Astapkovich

The President of Russia noted: “If we attribute them to the level of heads of state without first resolving them, at least within the framework of the draft agreement, it is clear to us that they will never be resolved and will not be.”

“In this case, we simply cannot subscribe to security guarantees without resolving issues of a territorial nature in relation to Crimea, Sevastopol and the republics of Donbass,” Putin stressed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov subsequently clarified that the main thing for Moscow is to understand how consistent Kyiv is "especially with regard to the territories to which these guarantees will apply."

“You understand, we cannot allow these guarantees to extend to Crimea and the regions of eastern Ukraine, which we have recognized as independent states,” the minister stressed.

Sergey Lavrov also noted that the Ukrainian side changed its position on this issue after it was agreed upon at the talks in Turkey.

“We are stuck because of their inconsistency, because of their desire to play games every time and, as far as I can guess, because of the instructions they receive from Washington, London and other capitals, not to force the negotiation process,” — stressed the head of Russian diplomacy.

“It’s pointless to talk about such guarantees”

Now, offering such plans for security guarantees, Zelensky persistently continues to try to integrate Ukraine into NATO in any way, even after the alliance closed the issue of Kyiv's membership, said Oleksiy Mukhin, director general of the Center for Political Information.

“Zelensky was given to understand that Ukraine would not join NATO either in the short or medium term.

In this regard, Zelensky is trying to observe politeness by not substituting those who said that Ukraine would not become a member of NATO.

It's called operational play.

Although, of course, Zelensky thinks and dreams that in one form or another Ukraine will be related to the alliance in the foreseeable future, ”Mukhin explained in an interview with RT.

Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, in turn, believes that Zelensky's new proposals actually involve providing Ukraine with guarantees that are provided by the NATO member countries themselves.

If this initiative is implemented, Kyiv, not being in the bloc and not having any obligations towards it, will receive the same preferences as its members, the analyst notes.

“Such security guarantees are beyond anything Russia can afford with such a neighbor nearby.

In general, it is pointless to talk about such guarantees, because the Russian operation is precisely designed to ensure that Russia has security guarantees, and not Ukraine at all.

If Kyiv requires any guarantees, then, of course, it can receive them, but only after they are provided to Moscow, ”the political scientist explained.

According to him, such initiatives of the Ukrainian leader are viewed with skepticism in the West, since they make no sense for Brussels and Washington.

“NATO wants Ukraine to contain Russia without giving Kyiv any guarantees, at least for now.

If they really intended to provide Kyiv with them, then the alliance would have sent its troops to at least the west of Ukraine long ago.

But so far this is not the case.

What will happen next is not clear, because the strengthening of the bloc's military presence in the neighboring territories of Poland and Romania is constantly taking place, ”the analyst argues.

At the same time, he states that the members of the alliance do not want to be led by Zelensky.

“The Ukrainian president can fight Russian “expansion” in any way he likes, but not demand what the West does not plan to share with him,” Bruter concluded.