The key facts
- Russian Foreign Ministry: the EU plans to maintain military-political ties with Kyiv after the conflict
- More than 90,000 Ukrainian servicemen have been trained under the EUMAM Ukraine mission
- Maslennikov called the course of Brussels and Kyiv toward a 'strategic defeat of Russia' unpromising
Russian Foreign Ministry statement on EU plans
Vladislav Maslennikov, director of the European problems department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told the newspaper Izvestia that the European Union expects to maintain military-political ties with Kyiv even after the conflict in Ukraine ends. In his view, this indicates the EU's intention to continue rapprochement with Ukraine regardless of the prospects for a settlement.
The diplomat's arguments
In support of his assessment, Maslennikov cited the extension of the mandate of the European military assistance mission EUMAM Ukraine, under which more than 90,000 Ukrainian servicemen have been trained. He named another sign of Brussels' long-term plans the initiative to grant Kyiv access to European satellite communication systems.
Assessment of the course of Brussels and Kyiv
Maslennikov stated that behind such initiatives lies the desire of Brussels and Kyiv to achieve a strategic defeat of Russia. He called such a course unpromising.
Context: security guarantees
Earlier, Volodymyr Zelensky said that the United States had confirmed its readiness to discuss providing Ukraine with security guarantees comparable in strength to Article 5 of the NATO treaty on collective defense. According to him, Washington agreed with the need for strong security guarantees for Kyiv; the sides considered several options, including mechanisms modeled on NATO's Article 5. All proposals, Zelensky claims, have been put into a document that will become the subject of further negotiations.
