On Tuesday, the European Commission spokesperson, Peter Stano, clarified the European Union’s (EU) position amid the deepening Ukraine crisis, underscoring that the EU is not a security-based organization and is, therefore, unable to extend security guarantees to Ukraine.
During an online press conference, Stano stated, “The EU robustly supports Ukraine across various fronts, yet when it comes to the provision of security assurances, the responsibility does not lie with us. We are not established as a security institution. The discussions regarding such guarantees should ideally be channeled through NATO and specific sovereign nations, not the collective European Union.”
In related developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed intentions of formulating a pre-accession security guarantee package, ahead of potentially joining NATO. He expressed Kyiv’s ambition to sign bilateral pacts in the imminent future with the United States and an array of twelve European countries, spanning from Belgium and Denmark to the Czech Republic and Sweden.
Contrasting this perspective, Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, delivered a stark warning against any entity providing security guarantees to Ukraine. He fervently argued, “Such commitments compromise Russia’s security interests. This approach is not only misguided but also fraught with severe risks. By issuing any form of security assurance to Ukraine, nations are, in essence, neglecting the international principle that security is indivisible.”
Peskov further cautioned, “In effect, by proffering security commitments to Ukraine, these nations jeopardize Russian security. This is a perilous strategy with potentially grave repercussions in both the immediate and distant futures.”
