A Ukrainian presidential aide has declared upcoming talks between Kiev and Washington aimed at obtaining “the most reliable security guarantee” that ensures Kiev’s “ability to win” its war with Moscow prior to gaining NATO membership.
The arrangements will include “clearly defined forms and mechanisms of support,” said Andrey Ermak, an aide to Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky, during a press briefing on Sunday, claiming that Kiev expects the guarantees to ensure Ukraine’s “ability to win” the conflict with Moscow and contain “Russian aggression” in the future.
Saying that the “negotiations” are expected to commence “as early as next week,” Ermak further described the security arrangements as a temporary measure until Ukraine joins the US-led NATO military alliance, referring to the yet-to-be worked out deal as “the most reliable security guarantee.”
The presidential aide also boasted that the set of measures, which he said will be outlined in a future bilateral agreement between Kiev and Washington, will involve military and financial assistance for Ukraine, as well as “sanctions and punishment for the aggressor.”
The incredible claims by Zelensky’s aide come amid Kiev’s persisting battlefield defeats and huge losses in its widely publicized counteroffensives against Russian forces as well as its failure to secure NATO membership in a recent summit of the military alliance.
Many member nations openly expressed annoyance at Kiev’s demanding attitude after being denied NATO membership despite receiving tens of billions of dollars worth of military and financial aid from them.
Ermak further asserted that agreements with the US and other Western nations will be based on the joint declaration issued by Ukraine and the G7 nations in Vilnius last month, claiming that more than a dozen other nations had already joined the declaration – though he did not identify any of them.
Ukrainian media, however, have reported that the deal reached by Kiev and the G7 member nations does not involve any specific support mechanisms, but is merely “framework” agreements.
This is while Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly explained to Washington and Kiev's other Westerner backers that “ensuring one nation’s security should not pose a threat to another nation’s security.”
"As for Ukraine’s NATO membership, we have repeatedly stated that it creates a threat to Russia’s security," the Russian leader said earlier this month, adding that NATO's eastward encroachment was one of two main reasons prompting Moscow to launch a special military operation in Ukraine in late February 2022.
Meanwhile, Putin said on Saturday in response to African leaders' call for a ceasefire that the offensive launched by Kiev had made a cessation of hostilities “virtually impossible”
“There are things that are virtually impossible to implement, like a ceasefire – but Ukraine is advancing, they’re on a strategic offensive, how do we hold our fire when they’re advancing on us?” Putin told reporters.
“This can only be a bilateral initiative. But the [African] initiative in my opinion can become the foundation of certain processes towards a peaceful resolution, just like China’s initiative, there’s no competition or contradiction here,” he said.