Ukrainian President in Ankara: Kyiv Expects Security Guarantees from the US, EU, and Turkey

During a visit to Turkey, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine will never compromise on its territorial integrity and sovereignty and expects security guarantees from the United States, the European Union and Turkey, Anadolu Agency reports.

‘As a country, we want peace; we want the war to end. However, we want the end of this war to be based on certain security guarantees. We expect that these security guarantees will be provided by the US, the EU, Turkey and the whole of Europe,’ Zelenskyy said at the opening ceremony of the new Ukrainian embassy in Ankara.

He emphasised that Ukraine will never compromise its territorial integrity and sovereignty, stressing that it will not act in contravention of the country's Constitution.  

‘If Turkey can provide Ukraine with the necessary security guarantees, we would like to see Turkey also involved in this process,’ he said. 

‘We will never, under any circumstances, recognise our temporarily occupied territories as part of Russia. They are part of Ukraine,’ the President of Ukraine said. 

President Zelenskyy also reaffirmed Ukraine's desire to return the territories occupied by Russia through diplomatic means, emphasising: ‘We do not want to lose our people - our people are our greatest treasure.’  

He added that these issues would also be raised during his meeting with Turkish President Erdogan, the agency reported.