Kyiv Submits Draft Security Guarantees To Several Countries: From The US To Israel, President Zelensky Wants China

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said his country had exchanged draft security guarantee documents with a number of countries.

"We do need security guarantees from leading countries," he said in an interview with Fox News, citing TASS, April 2.

"This applies to NATO members and non-NATO countries. We want countries that want to join this openly in addition to the US, UK, Germany, France, Turkey," he said.

"I only mention countries that have said they are ready to be guarantors, or those we have contacted and have exchanged some preliminary drafts of documents about them being guarantors," the Ukrainian leader continued.

According to him, among the countries that have offered security guarantees to Ukraine are Israel and Ireland.

"We want China to join," said President Zelensky.

At the same time, the Ukrainian leader acknowledged that, Russia needs to find a place in the deal too, because it will be an agreement between Ukraine and Russia.

According to him, Russia needs to be bound by the treaty, because it is a party to the conflict.

Alexander Chaly, a member of the Kyiv delegation, said Ukraine agreed to adopt a neutral and non-nuclear status if given security guarantees, which "should be in content and form similar to Article 5" of the North Atlantic Treaty.

According to him, the guarantee should include military assistance and the establishment of a no-fly area, after three days of consultations to seek a diplomatic solution.

The guarantors, according to Kyiv, could include permanent members of the UN Security Council (including Russia), as well as Germany, Israel, Italy, Canada, Poland, and Turkey.

But their guarantees will not cover Crimea and the Donbass, according to the head of the parliamentary faction of Ukraine's ruling Servant of the People Party, David Arakhamiya, who took part in the talks.

Meanwhile, Moscow is calling for providing security guarantees to Russia, Ukraine, and all European countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

As previously reported, the Russian and Ukrainian delegations held direct talks in Istanbul, Turkey, last Tuesday. After the meeting, Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Russian delegation at the talks, said Moscow had received a written proposal from Kyiv for a future bilateral agreement.

He added that after studying the initiative, Russia would submit its own proposal. Moreover, in his words, Moscow took "two steps towards" Kyiv and suggested that the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky be held earlier than planned, or at the same time as Russia's signing of a peace treaty. two foreign ministers.

And, at the same time, the Russian military will reduce its activities outside of Kyiv and Chernihiv.