Kiev says it needs a defensive alliance with a country like the UK that has atomic weapons
FILE PHOTO: Prime Minister Boris Johnson (R) during a meeting with President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. © Aaron Chown – WPA Pool / Getty Images
Ukraine needs to make a “defensive alliance” with a country armed with nuclear weapons like the UK, the top security official in Kiev Alexey Danilov said in a radio interview on Tuesday, dismissing as useless most international organizations set up after WWII.
“The whole world already understands what is happening in Ukraine. Unfortunately, not all countries react appropriately,” Danilov, who chairs the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, told Kiev’s NV Radio.
Excerpts of his remarks were later posted on Facebook by the NDSC.
Condemning countries that care more about money than “democratic values,” Danilov said some Western states are on Kiev’s side, but others “left us hanging at a tough moment,” and their names will live in infamy.
Danilov dismissed a “bunch of international organizations created after the Second World War” that “don’t affect anything, but only express concern.”
“Ukraine needs to make a new defensive alliance, which must include a country with nuclear weapons. Today that is Great Britain,” he said.
He also said Ukraine has been preparing for the possibility of war since November 2021, that Kiev will win, and that President Volodymyr Zelensky will “not take one step back” in defending Ukrainian national interests.
Earlier in the day, Zelensky denounced NATO as “weak” and questioned the US-led alliance’s commitment to defending its members, since it refused to get involved in Ukraine. NATO has funneled tens of millions of dollars in weapons and other aid to Kiev and imposed a wide-ranging economic embargo on Russia.
In a video address on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president said his citizens have realized they won’t be permitted to join NATO and are “beginning to count on our own strength” instead.
One of Russia’s key security demands voiced to NATO in December was a pledge of Ukraine remaining neutral. NATO and the US rejected this, insisting on the alliance’s “open door” policy.
Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on February 23, saying that Russia must demilitarize and “denazify” the government in Kiev after it refused to peacefully resolve the Donbass conflict and sought nuclear weapons and NATO membership. Ukraine blasted the move as an “unprovoked” attack.
