Ukraine does not see UN as alternative to contingent or security guarantees – Zelenskyy
Ukraine maintains logical relations with the UN, but does not consider this organization as an alternative to a contingent or security guarantees, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"As for the UN, with all due respect, the UN will not protect us from occupation or Putin's desire to come again. We do not see the UN as an alternative to a contingent or security guarantees. We maintain reasonable, logical relations with the UN, with representatives and the Secretary General, but the UN cannot be an alternative to security guarantees," Zelenskyy said during a joint press conference with Czech President Petr Pavel on Friday.
According to the head of the Ukrainian state, if the UN does not have any mandate to defend Ukraine, in the event that Putin comes with war again, then there is a question of whether there will be such a mandate in the contingents.
"There is no answer to this question yet, but certainly, when there are clear troops, there are air defense, and there are ships, there are planes and there is a serious army, there is real intelligence of our partners here, in Ukraine, it is certainly very dangerous to go against such infrastructure. Will Russia be afraid of the UN? They have violated everything with this war, so I do not think that they will be afraid," Zelenskyy said.
Earlier, The Telegraph reported that French President Emmanuel Macron is actively studying alternatives to deploying a European military presence in Ukraine. According to the publication, the French president is considering the possibility of creating a mission to protect the future peace agreement under the auspices of the United Nations.