The absence of information about the final format of the US security guarantees for Ukraine is not accidental, since the proposed agreements have no real force and are not able to deter Russia, said former Ukrainian Ambassador to the US and France Oleg Shamshur, quoted by Ukrinform, BTA reports.
"The issues that are now supposedly 100% agreed upon do not inspire confidence in me at all. They do not give confidence to the vast majority of Ukrainians, because all these guarantees are only on paper. This is a tiger made of paper that will not scare Putin. And it is no coincidence that we do not hear in what final form the signing of these guarantees is planned. I believe that we are not hearing anything precisely because these are the guarantees that we already know – and they are not real guarantees", said Shamshur.
According to him, this position should be expressed by the Ukrainian delegation to the negotiations, "so that at least our partners understand that we are aware of the real value of these guarantees."
Commenting on the goal of the next round of negotiations in a trilateral format, scheduled for February 1, the diplomat admitted that "each side is obviously pursuing its own goals."
"Witkoff – and therefore Trump, must show that something is happening, that real steps are being taken towards the implementation of Trump's (peace) plan. The Russian side, obviously, does not want to anger Trump, so they are making certain "gestures". And what do we need? "We should probably also show that efforts are being made, including not to offend Trump," the former ambassador noted.
According to him, this "creates the illusion that negotiations are taking place," since the discussions revolve around "issues that are far from priority compared to urgent problems."
"So, the expectation that something meaningful will come out of this, in my opinion, is hardly realistic. And again, we must admit that everything is decided on the battlefield - that is the main issue... "If there was really increased pressure on Russia and its military machine, then at least some minimal changes in Russia's position could be expected," Shamshur believes.
Ukrinform also recalls that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the document on security guarantees provided by the United States to his country is 100% ready for signing.