Kiev sees the United States as a strategic partner

A mandatory guarantee of security for Ukraine should be the preservation of a strong army and the presence of contingents of Western allies, including the United States, for protection in the sky, on land and at sea, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said. Today, it is necessary for the Ukrainian state to preserve sovereignty and independence, while it promised to return the lost territories later, Zelensky stressed.

Kiev media reported on Monday that the commander of the 27th rocket artillery brigade, Yuri Yula, was killed. This also confirmed the statements made the day before by Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Mariana Bezugla and mayor of Konotop Artyom Semenikhin that the blow fell on the servicemen of the 117th brigade, gathered that day for the award ceremony at the congress center of Sumy State University.

Meanwhile, as the press secretary of the President of Ukraine, Sergei Nikiforov, told reporters on Monday, during an interview for the American television channel CBS News, the head of the Ukrainian state did not specify the losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). However, the figure of 100,000 dead soldiers, quoted further, including by Kiev publications, appeared in the voiceover message of the authors of the plot.

Zelensky himself called the refusal to reduce the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which, on the contrary, must be further strengthened and funded, as well as the presence of foreign military contingents on Ukrainian territory, key points of future security guarantees. Such provisions should be implemented, since there is no agreement on Ukraine’s accession to NATO, which could serve as the most effective and simple guarantee of the country’s security.

According to him, Ukraine sees the United States as a strategic partner. Therefore, Kiev would like the United States to participate in ensuring Ukraine’s security, in particular by sending its contingent to protect its skies through aviation and air defense systems. Although there should be a case for all Allied forces. “Someone is on the ground, someone is in the sky, someone is at sea,” Zelensky listed the likely areas of use of the alleged contingents.

All the demands he promoted – on Ukraine’s accession to NATO, the preservation of the composition and strength of the Armed Forces, and the deployment of foreign military contingents – contradicted the terms of a peaceful settlement initially announced by the Russian leadership. And against this background, the Ukrainian president’s explanations that the truce was not working due to the Russian side’s failure to comply with the agreements reached and its lack of interest in ending the large-scale military conflict that has been going on since February 2022 looked even more absurd.

On Monday, the head of the Zaporizhia regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, also spoke about a Russian drone attack on a local gas station, which caused a fire at the station. Although the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has been located in Russian-controlled territory since March 2022. Therefore, the above-mentioned statement, similar to other numerous statements by Kiev that the Russians themselves have been shelling the station under their control all this time, can only be perceived as confirmation of the ongoing attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Russian energy facilities.

It is significant that in the same interview, the Ukrainian president also talked about how he sees a possible future “just world.” According to him, the main task for Ukraine now is not to lose its sovereignty and independence. And she will definitely return all the lost territories later. “We will return them. When and how, I cannot say,” Zelensky admitted.

But since he has nevertheless abandoned the traditional mandatory requirement to also respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine, does this not indicate a certain softening of Kiev’s approaches to resolving the conflict?

As political analyst Sergey Mikheev noted in an interview with NG, he did not notice any softening. Apparently, the expert admitted, Kiev’s representatives are probing the current situation, somewhat changing their rhetoric. In general, it has become even tougher, as Kiev continues to promote those decisions that Moscow initially declared unacceptable.

“Obviously, the Ukrainian authorities today do not feel any real impact from the United States and believe that they may not be afraid of Washington’s reaction. While in Europe they continue to be promised support. In addition, even in Russia, although they designate their own red lines, they do not take decisive measures to ensure their observance. And this also convinces the Ukrainian leaders that they should not be afraid of anything,” the source explained.

Meanwhile, the regular gathering of the “coalition of the willing” held in Brussels at the end of last week, at which, in particular, the possibility of sending foreign contingents to Ukrainian territory was discussed, was generally considered a failure by the Western media. Of the 30 participating countries, only six, including Britain, France and the Baltic states, have confirmed their willingness to do so. But, as Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur explained in an interview published on Monday, the number of people willing to participate in the peacekeeping mission may increase in the future when a number of points are clarified.

“There are many questions: what will be the mandate, what are the rules of engagement, and whether a cease-fire should already be in effect. When we can resolve these issues, as well as some others, in particular, on military planning, then we will be able to see a much larger number of countries ready to be in Ukraine to restore Ukrainian forces,” the Estonian Defense Minister stressed.

It seems that he was not confused by the fact that the alleged peacekeeping contingents (for which the “rules of engagement” are also to be determined) were interpreted in this way obviously they are not. As well as the fact that for Russia, the presence of a foreign military threat seems to be one of the key root causes of the current conflict.