Maroc - ENG.UATV.UA - A La Une - 20/Jan 15:05

Ukraine cannot wait, needs security guarantees now, Rutte says

Although NATO’s political commitment to Ukraine’s irreversible path toward membership remains in force, some NATO members currently oppose its accession. In the meantime, Ukraine cannot wait and needs security guarantees now, UATV English reports. This was stated by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. “As for NATO membership of Ukraine, there was a summit in Washington in 2024 that was very clear, and restated in the specific words of the summit statement the irreversible path of Ukraine into NATO. So, there was a political commitment in 2024 and it still stands. At the same time, we know that several allies, including Hungary, the United States, and some others, are either against or very doubtful about full NATO membership for Ukraine,” Rutte recalled. At the same time, Ukraine’s partners must meanwhile work to ensure a ceasefire and to guarantee that Russian aggression does not recur in the future, the NATO Secretary General said when asked why Ukraine is being offered security guarantees that are similar to, but not identical with, Article 5. “That’s exactly the debate that is currently taking place. The U.S. is very important here. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are playing a very positive role together with Marco Rubio under the guidance of President Trump, who has broken the deadlock with Putin by starting a dialogue with him, and he had to do that because he was the only one who could do this,” Rutte said. He recalled that significant progress has been made in “nailing as much as possible what those security guarantees will be” at several levels: the Ukrainian Armed Forces; the Coalition of the Willing, which is being organized in a way to help build up the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but also to function clearly and collectively in addition to the AFU to protect or at least prevent a renewed Russian attack; and also, the United States, which is actively involved in various ways. Rutte said that the current discussions on these levels of security guarantees are now at a final stage, including issues related to Ukraine’s reconstruction. At the same time, the “very sensitive issue of territories” remains unresolved, Rutte acknowledged. “In the end, it has to be the Ukrainian government taking the decisions of what they want to do – yes or no – when it comes to territory. But they need to know that whenever that moment comes – when they have to decide on territory – that they would have the full backing not only of their own Armed Forces, but also of the Coalition of the Willing and the United States, to collectively make sure that indeed the Russians will not repeat what they did after 2014-2015 with the Minsk agreements, which is attacking Ukraine,” Rutte said. As reported, former Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba predicts that no agreement with the Russians on a ceasefire will be reached by the end of winter, as Russia is interested in continuing to implement its strategy of destroying Ukraine’s economy and energy sector. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the military to continue carrying out the tasks of the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine. These orders were given after U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he believed Moscow was seeking to end the war in Ukraine. Read also: Why Ukraine Benefits from the Creation of a New European Defense Industrial Coalition Independent of the United States The post Ukraine cannot wait, needs security guarantees now, Rutte says appeared first on Freedom.