kravietz 🦇 on Nostr: #Ukraine Zelensky statement from 20 December captures the essence of the problem we ...

#Ukraine Zelensky statement from 20 December captures the essence of the problem we are now seeing with US:

> Peace is better than war, but not at any cost, because we have already paid a high price. What matters for us is a just, durable peace – one that cannot be violated by another whim of Putin or any other Putin-like figure. It is extremely important to have strong security guarantees in place to prevent even the thought or the physical ability to come back to us with aggression.

> I do not see the Budapest Memorandum as an agreement; I see it as nothing more than a piece of paper, because our territories were occupied, and so many people were killed. And this agreement did not protect us. I do not consider it strong or effective.

> Therefore, for me, an agreement is not just about signing a document. One must know the details: what will happen if the Russians come with aggression and launch another war. How will the Americans and Europeans respond? How will our partners respond? What deterrence package will Ukraine have? What will be present on Ukrainian territory? How will our army be equipped? How strong will it be, and what reserves will we have? What can we count on? What sanctions package will be imposed simultaneously on the aggressor?

> An agreement must be just and effective for Ukraine.

As a reminder, in 1994 USA, UK and Russia offered Ukraine security assurances for giving up nuclear weapons. China and France added their assurances on top of that.

When you hear people like Vance today saying "it's not our war" after his country gave these assurances back then, this completely undermines credibility of any guarantees he's going to give today.

And on top of that there's of course Russia, who groomed everyone else into honestly believing that firstly, you shouldn't expect any compliance with any agreements with Russia, and secondly, that some mythical "no inch to the East" anecdote has more weight than official, signed, mutual treaties registered with UN.

But in this aspect, Russia is also paying a heavy price for their sloppy and short-minded tactics because if not that, they would likely have a favourable deal with Ukraine already in 2022. This time I don't think anyone will fall for Russia's "assurances" again, if they won't be reinforced with literal concrete and rockets.