Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a speech after the first day of Russia’s assault on the country and said Ukraine has been “left alone” and that NATO is “afraid” to help.
“We are left alone in defense of our state. Who is ready to fight with us? Honestly — I do not see such. Who is ready to guarantee Ukraine’s accession to NATO? Honestly, everyone is afraid,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader said he asked European leaders about Ukraine’s potential NATO membership but didn’t get an answer. “Today, I asked the twenty-seven leaders of Europe whether Ukraine will be in NATO. I asked directly. Everyone is afraid. They do not answer,” he said.
Russia has said it’s willing to negotiate Ukraine’s “terms of surrender,” which include Kyiv declaring its neutrality. Zelensky said Ukraine is “not afraid” to talk about this issue with Russia and a potential ceasefire.
“We are not afraid to talk to Russia. We are not afraid to say everything about security guarantees for our state. We are not afraid to talk about neutral status. We are not in NATO now … We need to talk about the end of this invasion. We need to talk about a ceasefire,” he said.
For now, Zelensky said, Ukraine is depending on its military to fight off the Russians. But Zelensky’s comments signal that he is starting to accept the reality that there is no NATO membership in Ukraine’s future.
Over the past few months, the US and Russia have been engaged in talks over security proposals presented by Moscow. Chief among Russia’s demands is a guarantee that Ukraine won’t ever join NATO. President Biden has recently said that it’s “not likely” Ukraine would be joining the alliance in the “near term,” but he still ignored the Russian request.
Even as Russian missiles are pounding Ukraine, and Moscow has made it clear the assault is about Ukraine’s alignment with NATO, Biden has made no effort to make the promise that could potentially end the war. In remarks on Thursday, Biden said he has “no plans” to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The US has got what it wants. The reboot of the Cold War. Ukraine was just used.
Exactly – it’s a shame that useful idiots like Zelensky didn’t understand they were being set up by the war party to fail
The neocon imperial mania goes much farther. They want to (1) isolate Russia, (2) strip its military of strategic capability, and finally (3) “Balkanize” it.
This is one lame dude. Some people think he’s on drugs. He’s definitely way over his head. The perfect patsy for the CIA and the neocons.
And he’s right – NATO is afraid. I just watched another Scott Ritter video tonight, an interview with Richard Medhurst, and he repeated that NATO has zero chance to win a war with Russia (without going nuclear.)
There will be no winners in that one for sure.
That does not mean that they won’t do it anyway…
It just shows you what a joker Zelensky is ,if one NATO Soldiers fire on a Russian soldier NATO will be at war with Russia ,they won`t risk that for a tin pot faided state with a Nazi army.
If Russia formed a military alliance with Mexico, and they promised to establish military bases and missile batteries in Tijuana, we would absolutely invade Mexico.
And we would have done it MUCH sooner.
But Ukraine is not a member of NATO and was unlikely to become one.
Yes it was and if not, why couldn’t we have avoided all this by making ironclad guarantees that Ukraine would NEVER be a member of NATO, as the reasonable proposition by Russia requested?
Right. So if Mexico refused to guarantee that it would never ally itself with Russia, would you support an American invasion? This was never about NATO. It’s about Putin believing that the Ukraine belongs to Russia, and about resenting the fact that they lost Ukraine when the Soviet Union collapsed
No, they actually lost Ukraine when Vicky Nuland said “Yats is our man”and “F**k the EU” and we replaced “Russia’s stooge” with our own.
Put it in writing and the excuse for the invasion evaporates.
They were actively seeking membership
Zelensky sounds like a child. Almost trying to embarrass others to join in. C’mon, I double dare you!
Bully’s never ever fight anyone who can fight back which is why nato led by the usa does nothing but sit at the sidelines yelling and posturing with bellicose statements and gestures from the safety of home…
Zelensky was/is so gullible and may finally be realizing he and Ukraine are mere pawns.
The primary aims have been achieved:
1. Re-invigorate NATO
2. Make Russia the pariah again
3. Steer Europe, primarily Germany, away from economic cooperation with Russia.
4. Make energy companies rich and make Americans pay more by promising Germany we’ll sell them some of our energy resources.
5. Fuel the military industrial complex and get those arms factories going in double overtime.
6. Further the quest for world-wide domination
i don’t think those are safe assumptions.
3 times now Russia has fought foreign wars counter to the US governments interest, Georgia, Syria and now Ukraine.
1. or exposed europe for the first time in a long time what nato means. nuclear war over tiny bits of land most europeans never heard of before.
2.russia was already a “pariah” by those who are most upset with this.
3-4.the reason europe is not responding at all is because as soon as the violnce dies down russian gas will start flowing again.
6. litterally the opposite. russia acted because its security has been directly challenged, it is roling back world domination, and as per their recent meeting and treaties, china fully has russias back at this point
Let’s hope Zelensky doesn’t break diplomatic protocol and go directly to the ‘triple-dog-dare-you’ challenge.
This were promising, were it not for the Victoria Nuland (Neo Con)-UkroNazi partnership that really rules Kiev, which would deal with him extremely prejudicially. And that’s why Putin’s explicit goal is “denazification”.
NATO, and the West, are not “afraid” – at least of Russia.
The West is afraid of sending forces to fight Russia when they might well need them for their own impending civil wars.
I guess it still comes down to the same thing: Zelenskiy, you’re f****d.
No other NATO country will go to war with Russia unless our nation does and that requires Congressional approval. How will Representatives and Senators vote? I have no idea.
Hence the critics of Biden are dangerous blabbermouths. They do not have the information on our NATO allies which Biden has.
“We are left alone in defense of our state. Who is ready to fight with us? Honestly — I do not see such. Who is ready to guarantee Ukraine’s accession to NATO? Honestly, everyone is afraid.”
Is this a surprise? Ukraine is a treaty ally of…..who? Nobody, as far as I know. It’s not a member of NATO. It is not a treaty, non NATO ally of the US, or, again, AFAICT, a treaty, non NATO ally of any NATO member. No NATO nation is explicitly bound to support Ukraine. And Russia having a veto on the Security Council means that UN action is out of the question. Russia is a strategic nuclear power, a permanent member of the SC, and, if no longer a super power, still certainly a massive regional power. Who did the Ukraine president expect to take on Russia and come riding to Ukraine’s rescue? Not the USA, surely. Nor the UK, France, Germany or any other NATO member. Who then? China? Israel? India? Pakistan? Japan? Belarus? The neutral states of Finland, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, etc? Taking on Russia is a formidable task, especially in terms of a land war in Eastern Europe. Everyone, NATO included, is indeed “afraid!” No nation is going to do it.
Was Zelensky not aware of this, and somehow based his policies and strategic thinking on the idea that somebody (the USA?) was going to come to Ukraine’s aid? Or is this just posturing? I would have thought that it was clear since the second Obama administration that neither a Democratic nor a Republican president (and certainly not Donald Trump) was going to actually fight Russia over the Ukraine. As a strategic reality, apart from all the rhetoric, Russia has, in the final, military analysis, a free hand in all of the former Soviet Union except for NATO members Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The US will not fight for Georgia. It won’t fight for Moldova. It won’t fight for Belarus. And it won’t fight for Ukraine either. And if the US won’t do it, it’s not like, say, Italy is gonna do it!