US open to discuss security guarantees – Zhovkva

At present, it is very important that the United States is not afraid to discuss security guarantees.

The Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva in an interview with TSN, Ukrinform reports.

"It is very important that today the United States is not afraid to discuss security guarantees," he said.

Zhovkva recalled that the 20th package of EU sanctions is expected closer to February 24.

"There are many important measures there, in particular regarding the termination of so-called maritime services. This concerns the Russian 'shadow fleet' that transports the same types of export raw materials. Every time we tell EU representatives: yes, it is very important that more and more vessels are being added to the 'shadow fleet' register, but is this enough? Or perhaps it is already worth creating obstacles so that this shadow fleet does not operate, even despite the sanctions?" he noted.

He stated that we can now see examples of some countries beginning to respond by detaining these vessels, as France and Estonia recently did.

"They detain these tankers, inspect them, and for a certain period even bring them into their ports. But then they are forced to release them. Why? Because there is no appropriate legislative framework for fully stopping these vessels and terminating their voyages," Zhovkva explained.

As Ukrinform reported, on January 6 German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that Germany fundamentally does not rule out anything regarding its contribution to security guarantees for Ukraine after a ceasefire, including deploying forces in neighboring NATO countries and participating in monitoring.

Photo: Office of the President