Behind Zelensky’s push for a security guarantee: extremist threats and Western betrayal

Boris Johnson admits that Ukrainian extremists undermined peace in Ukraine. But as a Ukrainian negotiator's overlooked account reveals, they received a key helping hand from him and the US.

Boris Johnson and Volodymyr Zelensky, April 9th 2022. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/president_of_ukraine/)

Ahead of US-brokered peace talks in Saudi Arabia this week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has finally acknowledged that Russia has achieved a key goal in the war – preventing Ukraine’s membership in NATO. “Ukraine is not being invited to NATO, and there is nothing to discuss here,” Zelensky said last week.

At the same time, Zelensky remains adamant about obtaining NATO-style security guarantees from the US and other NATO states, which, he said, are “definitely needed... Otherwise, Putin will come again with war.”

Overlooked disclosures from Western and Ukrainian sources underscore that it is not just Russia that Zelensky is fearful of.