President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the United States is offering Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years, but it wants more than 20 years.
He said this while talking to journalists at the Munich Security Conference.
“We met with senators today. We really want to increase the security guarantees in terms of years so that they are more effective for investors. We just had a meeting with investors, with businesses, and they need guarantees that would be longer than 5-10 years, etc. Today we have a proposal from the American side for 15 years. We want to have 20 years plus – 30, 50. We'll see what the administration and Congress will do,” the president said.
Zelensky also stated that of all the documents necessary to end the war, security guarantees for Ukraine must be signed first.
“The US has openly stated to us its position that they want to make peace as soon as possible. This is absolutely true. We feel it: they want it more than the Russians. We see that they are eager to sign all the documents together. When they said this, I said openly that I think it is better to sign security guarantees – it is better for Ukraine, for trust between all of us,” he said.
According to the president, Ukrainians trust the United States, but people have been under Russian shelling for four years, and “so far no one can put an end to this war.”
“That's why I noted that we must provide this hope, provide us with security guarantees first. This is my position. But not everything depends on us,” Zelenskyy said.
On February 13, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said that he had received information from the United States about its readiness to ratify security guarantees in Congress.
On January 25, Zelensky announced that a bilateral document on security guarantees from the United States for Ukraine was 100% ready. At the time, he noted that for Kyiv, specific security guarantees should allow it to end this war and prevent another one.