“Don’t jump to conclusions about US policy: Zelenskyi on Trump’s statement regarding Ukraine’s NATO membership. Zelensky emphasized that the lack of security guarantees became one of the causes of the war.”, — write on: unn.ua
“Do you remember when Ukraine was told that Patriot systems can be and are only in NATO countries? Either you and I have been in NATO for a long time, or there is no need to jump to conclusions. This is what happened to us with Patriot, and with missile systems, and with other NATO-style weapons our people security guarantees that could stop Putin. We will work on this,” said Zelensky.
He also emphasized that Ukraine was never a member of NATO and, unfortunately, did not have strong security guarantees. He noted that wars do not take place in NATO countries, but Ukraine, which is in a state of war, has the right to demand serious security guarantees from the international community, which seeks leadership, and from the states advocating for peace.
The President also drew attention to the fact that the issue of security guarantees depends not only on the United States, but also on the joint position of European allies.
“Despite significant assistance from the US and Europe, NATO has not demonstrated unity between the US and its European allies,” he said.
Zelensky recalled that some countries, including the USA, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia, were against giving Ukraine the prospect of NATO membership. This, according to him, became one of the reasons for the start of the war, because Russia understood that Ukraine would be left without support.
“Putin was convinced that his army was bigger and capable of destroying us. But the Ukrainian army surprised the whole world,” he concluded.
Addition
Trump said that he “can understand the feelings” of Russia in connection with the fact that Joe Biden allegedly violated the “agreement” on the refusal to accept Ukraine into NATO.
“A big part of the problem was that Russia had been saying for many years, long before Putin, that NATO should not be in Ukraine. It was kind of set in stone,” Trump said.
“And somewhere in the process, Biden said: no, they should be able to join NATO. Well, for Russia to have someone right on the doorstep – I can understand their feelings about that,” added the US president-elect.
Asked by a journalist to explain when exactly the USA denied the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, the president-elect said: “I believe that it was always clear.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiga commented on the statement of the newly elected US President Donald Trump regarding Ukraine’s membership in NATO and stated that Russia has not changed its rhetoric of capitulation and ultimatums.