Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said he does not believe in the effectiveness of so-called security guarantees and proposed abandoning the term.
Minister Sikorski made this statement during his speech at the annual Yalta European Strategy meeting in Kyiv. Sikorski also added that “…Ukraine already has guarantees, even if they are called ‘assurances’ in the Budapest Memorandum. If other, more specific guarantees are provided, they will not work.”
The minister reminded that the purpose of security guarantees for Ukraine is to deter Russia from new aggression: “That is, if you attack someone who has been given guarantees (i.e., Ukraine), we will start a war to defend them.”
“That is, if we provide security guarantees to Ukraine, we are saying that we can start a war against Russia. And I don’t think it’s convincing that there is trust in this. Anyone who wants to fight Russia can start right now. But I don’t see anyone willing to do so. In international relations, there is nothing worse than providing guarantees that are not trusted.”
Radosław Sikorski called for recognition that this is not about guarantees for Ukraine.
“We are not talking about guarantees, but about monitoring peace and strengthening Ukraine,” he stressed.
Sikorski also called for focusing on military aid to Ukraine instead of negotiations on security guarantees.
“I am afraid that this self-absorbed discussion is distracting and demobilizing politicians from the more urgent task of finding money for Ukraine for 2026 and 2027,” he explained.
While politicians talk about hypothetical security guarantees after a hypothetical peace settlement, Putin is carrying out provocative military attacks on NATO countries. So far, the largest drone attack has been carried out on Poland, with a smaller one on Romania. Information about the provocative attack on Lithuania has not been disseminated.
Russia continues to kill people in Ukraine, while politicians seem to be living in a parallel dimension, talking about being ready to guarantee security under certain conditions. The war is already underway! Already! And here, in Europe!
While Ukraine is holding back the aggressive Putin, it is our task as Europeans to support and preserve Ukraine in every way possible. In essence, Ukraine is now the most effective guarantor of security for the EU and NATO!
