Ukrainian negotiators have set out their plans for future security during talks aimed at ending the war with Russia.
In short, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accepted that it will not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) but could ask for all NATO countries to sign up to a treaty that would mean that future attacks on Ukraine are regarded the same as an attack on a NATO country.
The aim is to dissuade Russia from invading again and creating a peace deal.
It’s now been nearly five weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, and in that time thousands have died and millions have been displaced, not to mention the destruction wrought by heavy artillery and bombs raining down on the country.
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While the USA, UK, and the other NATO countries have heavily criticised Russia’s invasion and introduced a raft of sanctions against Putin and his allies, as well as handing billions in money, aid, and weapons to Ukraine, they have so far refused to intervene on a military level.
Now, Ukrainian negotiators have presented a proposal that would mean that any future invasion would require NATO intervention.
The head of Ukraine’s delegation to the peace talks David Arakhamia said: "Today we came up with an official proposal for a new system of security guarantees for Ukraine.
"We insist that this must be an international treaty signed by all countries – guarantors of security.
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"We want it to be a working international mechanism of concrete security guarantees for Ukraine.”
It has been reported that Ukraine has agreed not to join NATO as part of the talks, as well as not allowing NATO forces to conduct operations on Ukrainian soil.
However, they want assurances from NATO similar to the treaty’s Article 5, which says that an attack on one nation is an attack on all.
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Kyiv has asked all permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the UK, USA, France, China and Russia – to agree to defend Ukraine against future attack.
Other countries have been asked to act as guarantors.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Ukrainian negotiators said: "The future treaty must contain a provision according to which within three days after the start of the war, aggression, military operation, any disguised, hybrid war against Ukraine, the guarantor countries hold consultations.”
All participating countries would then be beholden to offer military support in terms of ‘armaments and the closure of the skies’.
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So far, NATO members have been reticent to close the skies for fear of escalating the conflict.
That treaty – if signed – would not be binding to ‘temporarily occupied’ areas such as the Donbass region and Crimea ‘since their status is not regulated’.
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Topics: Ukraine, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky