President of Ukraine: Talks on Security Guarantees for Ukraine to Be Propelled to the Next Level

The all-Ukraine poll’s question on the Budapest Memorandum by President Volodymyr Zelensky was aimed at propelling a “very substantive conversation” about security guarantees for our state to a new level.

The minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba stated this.

“This issue is not rather about reviving the Budapest Memorandum, but about propelling to a new level a very substantive conversation about security guarantees for Ukraine: how they should be provided, what tools we need for this. I would call for looking at this issue in this way,” the Foreign Minister said.

He stressed that the best guarantee of Ukraine’s security was NATO membership, but the path to it would take some time. Meanwhile, the state must strengthen the national Armed Forces, while building unions and alliances that will make Ukraine stronger.

“For example, when the President of Ukraine goes to the United Kingdom and agrees on additional resources to strengthen the Ukrainian fleet, this is also a contribution to our security guarantee. When he goes to Turkey and agrees on the development of military-technical cooperation with its President, we should not look at this directly: we have sat down, signed the document and received guarantees. The real guarantees are provided when you have strong armed forces, a stable society and strong allies,” the minister said.

To recap, among the five questions of the nationwide poll initiated by the State’s Head was the following: “Do you support Ukraine’s right to use the security guarantees enshrined in the Budapest Memorandum to restore its state sovereignty and territorial integrity?” According to the preliminary results of the poll processing, 74.21% of respondents answered “yes” to this question, 17.21% were opposed.

Bohdan Marusyak