KYIV — NATO chief Mark Rutte called Friday for binding security guarantees to anchor any future peace with Russia, arguing that Ukraine must never again face the prospect of invasion without ironclad protection, reported Hurriyet Daily News.
Standing beside President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Rutte said Western partners were working to define “robust” commitments that go beyond symbolic assurances. “Russia must never again seize even one square kilometer of Ukraine,” he said.
The push reflects lessons from past failures. The 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which pledged security in exchange for Ukraine surrendering nuclear arms, collapsed when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. The later Minsk Agreement unraveled in bloodshed. Rutte stressed there could be no repeat of such “paper promises.”
The U.S. is central to current talks. President Donald Trump said earlier this week that Moscow had signaled openness to guarantees. But Russia quickly backtracked, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissing negotiations without Russia as “a road to nowhere.”
Zelensky insisted guarantees must combine Ukraine’s own rearmed military with commitments from allies. “The question is who can provide intelligence, who has presence at sea and in the air, and who is ready to fund,” he said.
After four years of war, tens of thousands of lives lost, and millions displaced, Western leaders are racing to ensure that any peace is not just an interlude before the next Russian offensive.
