Zelenskiy says Kyiv security guarantees will only work if US provides them

By Olena Harmash and Tom Balmforth

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated safety ensures for Kyiv to finish Russia’s warfare would solely be efficient if the US offers them, and that he hoped to satisfy U.S. President-elect Donald Trump quickly after his inauguration.

In an interview with U.S. podcaster Lex Fridman printed on Sunday, Zelenskiy stated Ukrainians have been relying on Trump to power Moscow to finish its warfare and that Russia would escalate in Europe if Washington have been to give up the North Atlantic Treaty Group (NATO) army alliance.

Nearly three years after Russia’s invasion, the election of Trump, who returns to the White Home on Jan. 20, has sparked hope of a diplomatic decision to cease the warfare, but in addition fears in Kyiv {that a} fast peace may come at a excessive worth.

Zelenskiy used the three-hour interview printed on YouTube to name for Ukraine’s NATO membership, emphasizing his perception {that a} ceasefire with out safety ensures for Kyiv would merely give Russia time to rearm for a brand new assault.

The Ukrainian chief stated the White Home underneath Trump had an important position to play in offering safety ensures and asserted that he and the U.S. president-elect noticed eye to eye on the necessity for a “peace by way of power” method to ending the battle.

“With out the US, safety ensures should not attainable. I imply these safety ensures that may forestall Russian aggression,” he stated, tacitly acknowledging that Kyiv’s European allies can be too weak militarily to handle on their very own.

Zelenskiy made the case that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not fascinated with severe negotiations to finish the warfare, and that the Kremlin chief must be compelled to cease and comply with an enduring peace.

The state of play on the battlefield is at its most difficult for Ukraine because the early months of Russia’s 2022 invasion and Kyiv’s largely outnumbered troops have been dropping village after village within the japanese Donbas area for months.

Although he stated it was as much as the US to find out its future, Zelenskiy cautioned that any choice by Washington underneath Trump to exit NATO would weaken the army alliance and embolden Putin in Europe.

“I am merely saying that if it does (give up the alliance), Putin will destroy Europe,” he stated.

The Ukrainian chief stated he wanted to take a seat down with Trump to find out a plan of action to halt the Kremlin and that Europe’s governments additionally wanted to have a voice in that course of earlier than Kyiv may sit down for talks with the Russian aspect.

UKRAINIAN VISIT

Trump, the Ukrainian chief added, had indicated once they spoke late final yr that there can be an official Ukrainian go to to the US quickly after he takes workplace.

“He instructed me on the telephone that my go to can be one in every of his first. This matter is essential to him. I hope we are going to meet,” he stated.

The Ukrainian chief additionally stated he would attend Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration if he receives an official invitation.

The interview was printed the night after Ukrainian troops on Sunday launched a brand new offensive push in Russia’s Kursk area the place they carved out an enclave in a shock incursion final August.

Ukraine has for months stated Russia had deployed hundreds of North Korean troops within the Kursk area to assist its forces there.

Zelenskiy estimated that 3,800 North Korean troops had been killed or wounded within the combating to this point, however that he believed Pyongyang had the capability to ship many hundreds extra troops if it selected to take action.

He additionally stated that North Korea had offered 3.7 million artillery shells to Russia to this point, a determine he contrasted with the 1 million offered by the European Union final yr. Reuters couldn’t independently confirm these figures.

(Reporting by Olena Harmash and Tom Balmforth; Enhancing by Chris Reese and Richard Chang)