Ukraine shares draft security guarantee with NATO & non-NATO nations amid war with Russia

Ukraine has shared the document on the draft security guarantee with NATO and non-NATO nations, including the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Turkey, amid the war with Russia. Earlier Isreal and Ireland had offered to be security guarantors.

According to The Kyiv Independent, Italy also agreed to guarantee Ukraine's neutrality. Foreign Minister Luigi Di Mayo said the government “is ready to contribute to the peace process and act as a guarantor of Ukraine’s neutrality.”

There was no immediate word on the latest round of peace negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators which took place on Friday via video link. 

During a round of talks earlier in the week, Ukraine said it would be willing to ditch its bid to join NATO and declare itself neutral, which is Moscow's main demand — in return for security guarantees from several other countries.

Russia steps up the assault in Donbas, Kerson and Mykolaiv regions

While Russia and Ukraine have seld several rounds of peace negotiations, Moscow is not de-escalating its military offensive in Donbas, Mykolaiv and Kherson. The actions suggest that Russia is planning to amplify its assault on the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas region in the east, including Mariupol. The Ukrainian General Staff had reported that Moscow is preparing a "Kerson People's Republic" similar to Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic. The Russian troops are also inching closer to the important port city of Odesa, and if they can capture it, then Ukraine's imports and exports will suffer massively.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned his people that Russian forces were creating a "complete disaster" outside Kyiv as they left mines across the "whole territory", including around homes and corpses. “They are mining the whole territory. They are mining homes, mining equipment, even the bodies of people who were killed,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. “There are a lot of tripwires, a lot of other dangers.”

Image: AP