Illustrative: Ukrainian military. Photo from the open sources
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Today [September 30], guaranteeing the collective security of Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic space is a matter not only for the meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, but also, without exaggeration, every capital of the Euro-Atlantic space.
Indeed, all the so-called «referendums» were held according to the same methods as in 2014. Nevertheless, the situation in the world and the reaction of the world to the current actions will be radically different. This was evidenced by yesterday’s principled and categorical statement of the UN Secretary General. Usually, Secretary Generals are extremely careful in such matters. But not this time. This is the result of communication between President Zelenskyi, the head of his Office Andrii Yermak, and the Secretary General. They held more than one round of negotiations with Mr Guterres and found arguments to convince him: either we are all beating Putin’s hands now, or we can forget about international peace and security.
Today, the collective security of Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic space can only be guaranteed by ensuring the operation of seven elements.
1. Expansion of the international coalition in support of Ukraine. Intensive diplomacy has been working on this during the recent weeks, including dozens of President’s talks and the active work of the Ukrainian delegation at the UN General Assembly, where we focused our attention on involving primarily the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
2. Increasing the supply of weapons to Ukraine, removing all political obstacles for all types and volumes of weapons for the Ukrainian army. We will do everything to ensure that Ukraine receives even more weapons after this attempted annexation.
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3. A significant increase in sanctions against Russia in the energy, finance, nuclear power, and other sectors.
4. Ukraine’s entry into NATO and the EU. The membership of Ukraine in NATO has long been matured and overmatured. Ukraine is already an integral component of Euro-Atlantic security. We do not yet have the umbrella of the 5 Article over us, but all NATO members are de facto under the umbrella of Ukraine, under the protection of our Armed Forces. Therefore, today, Ukraine submitted an application for membership in NATO, the receipt of which does not require the provision of a Membership Action Plan under these new circumstances and allows our partners to reset and not repeat the mistakes made since 2008.
5. The Kyiv Security Treaty as a security guarantee for Ukraine on the way to our membership in NATO.
6. The Kyiv Security Treaty as a security model for all countries that are not members of collective security agreements or do not yet have security guarantees from third countries.
7. Active opposition of other countries of the Euro-Atlantic space to Russian military and hybrid threats, as well as their implementation of an effective strategy of nuclear deterrence of Russia.
The victory of Ukraine means the security of the entire Euro-Atlantic space. There is no alternative to this.
And our signal to the whole world and the aggressor state today is the following: by trying to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions of Ukraine, Putin is trying to seize territories that he does not even physically control on the ground. Nothing changes for Ukraine: we continue to liberate our land and our people, restoring our territorial integrity.
Translated by Vitalii Holich
The author’s column is a reflection of the author’s subjective position. The editors of «Tvoe Misto» do not always share the opinions expressed in the columns, and are ready to give those who disagree the opportunity for a reasoned answer.
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