Trump plans grand peace signing ceremony: Zelenskyy demands Congress approval of security guarantees first
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump (photo: president.gov.ua)
US President Donald Trump wants to sign an agreement on security guarantees and the end of the war in Ukraine during a large ceremony, but Ukraine demands its prior approval by Congress, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, CNN reports.
Security guarantees, especially the question of how Ukraine's allies will respond if Russia invades Ukraine again in the future, remain a stumbling block, Zelenskyy noted.
According to him, allies constantly say that Russia simply will not start another war, but that is not an answer.
"We have good things in these security guarantees, it's true. But I want a very specific answer: what our partners will be ready to do if Putin comes again. This is what Ukrainians want to hear," he added.
According to the President of Ukraine, there are also disagreements regarding the sequence of steps toward peace. Thus, Trump wants Zelenskyy to sign a peace agreement with Russia and an agreement on security guarantees simultaneously, ideally at a large ceremony marking the end of the war.
But Zelenskyy insists that security guarantees must first be agreed upon and ratified by the US Congress.
In his opinion, this will give the Ukrainian people confidence that they will be able to rely on their allies in the future.
Preparation of security guarantees for Ukraine
Earlier, during a speech in Munich on February 14, Zelenskyy stated that without clear international security guarantees, agreements to end the war may turn out to be only temporary.
According to him, Russian President Vladimir Putin is a slave of war, and he will try to find a pretext again to start a new war against Ukraine. Therefore, a system of guarantees is needed that must include membership in the European Union, as well as a long-term deterrence mechanism against Russia.
In general, it is currently known that Ukraine, together with the United States and European partners, has preliminarily agreed on a three-stage action plan in case the Russians violate a potential peace agreement.
