Zelensky asks for “security guarantees” from European NATO allies and more military support against Russia

BRUSSELS Dec. 18 () –

The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has demanded this Wednesday “security guarantees” from European allies, in addition to a “united” position to reinforce Ukraine with more anti-aircraft defenses and weapons in the face of the wave of Russian attacks against civilian targets and infrastructure. .

In statements before the summit held by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at his residence, which will bring together the Ukrainian president with a group of European leaders of the Alliance, Zelensky stated that the meeting is a “good opportunity” for talk about “security guarantees” for Ukraine “for today and tomorrow.”

The Ukrainian president has asked Europe for a “single” and “joint” position to guarantee that Ukraine has the military equipment and anti-aircraft systems to confront Russian attacks.

At a time when the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House could precipitate a cut in US aid and ceasefire negotiations, the meeting at Rutte’s residence is presented as the starting point to design aid plans long-term to Ukraine, including the idea of ​​​​a deployment of European troops to ensure a future ceasefire.

Zelensky has held a bilateral meeting with the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, the leader who has most openly defended deploying a peacekeeping mission with European soldiers on Ukrainian soil, while the Ukrainian leader will attend the European Council this Thursday to meet with the rest of European leaders.

For his part, Rutte has insisted that the “priority” on the agenda is for Ukraine to be in the “best possible position” if it decides to start peace talks with Russia. “That means that we have to do everything now so that in anti-aircraft systems and other weapons we give everything possible,” he assured, reiterating the idea that the allies have to reinforce Kiev before a peace agreement and commit their economic support. to support Ukraine.

Speaking from the EU-Balkans summit, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Kaja Kallas warned of “really short and quick solutions” to the conflict in Ukraine and noted that at the moment Russia “does not “he wants peace and that is a problem.”

“To find the best solution, we have to support Ukraine as much as we can. The stronger they are on the battlefield, the stronger they will also be at the negotiating table, and that is also in Europe’s interest,” he said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has insisted that Ukraine’s sovereignty must prevail and that it “not submit to a dictated peace.” “We must help Ukraine feel secure. That is what we are doing today with arms deliveries. That is what it will be like in the future, and of course that will always mean that we do everything possible to ensure security guarantees,” he said. .

REDUCED FORMAT, WITHOUT SÁNCHEZ

Several EU leaders will attend the meeting at the residence of the NATO Secretary General. Although NATO has not formally confirmed the list of participants, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected at the residence of the transatlantic leader; the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni; the Polish president, Andrzej Duda; the Dutch Prime Minister, Dick Schoof, and the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, representing the Nordic and Baltic countries. Representatives from France and the United Kingdom will also attend, as well as the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as Europa Press has learned.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will not be at the meeting, as it is a format in which Spain does not usually participate, government sources explain, although the framework of the meeting is flexible and apart from the European countries of the G7 they have joined. Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland, three of kyiv’s closest military partners.

Different sources familiar with the meeting point out that the dinner with the Ukrainian president will launch reflection on long-term aid to Ukraine and the future decisions that European allies will have to make in the Ukrainian scenario, a changing context in which twists and turns with Trump’s return to the White House.

Allied sources lower expectations about possible announcements after the meeting and frame the meeting organized by the political head of NATO in the preparation of European partners before the entry of the new US administration, which has promised to end the conflict. “You can’t expect fireworks,” they explain.

Other European sources indicated in recent days that the debate on the deployment of European troops is “inevitable” once Trump returns to the Oval Office, while they indicate that peacekeeping troops are a common element in crisis situations.