Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the government in Kyiv was open to creative thinking about the future security status of the country.
Speaking after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Turkey on Thursday, Kuleba said: “It’s written in our constitution to eventually join NATO as a full member and enjoy security guarantees. But we understand this is not going to happen in the blink of an eye or the foreseeable future.”
He added that Ukraine is aware NATO is not ready to act collectively to stop the war and to protect civilians in Ukraine from Russian attacks
This poses a question,” said Kuleba. “How to assure the security of Ukraine between now and eventual membership in NATO.”
Kuleba added: “If we could reach an agreement where a similar system of guarantees as envisaged by the North Atlantic Charter could be granted to Ukraine by the permanent members of UN Security Council, including Russia,” as well as by Ukraine’s neighbors, “this is something we are ready to discuss. Ukraine exists in a security vacuum and we have to think creatively on how to address this issue.”
Kuleba’s meeting with Lavrov on Thursday ended without an agreement between the two sides on evacuation corridors out of besieged areas, nor on a ceasefire in Ukraine.
After the meeting, Kuleba said Russia was not prepared to negotiate on his top goals of arranging an evacuation route away from the city of Mariupol, which has endured deadly airstrikes this week.
According to Kuleba, a “broad narrative Lavrov conveyed today was they [Russia] will continue their aggression until we surrender.” He said he hopes Lavrov will follow up on the humanitarian issues in Ukraine by “reaching out to his colleagues in charge who can make decisions.”
