Russia says security guarantees sought by Ukraine “danger” to Europe

Russia said Thursday that the security guarantees sought by Kyiv were “guarantees of danger to the European continent”, ahead of talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders on such assurances.

The summit in Paris will be co-chaired by the leaders of France and the UK and aims to pile pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin following a series of failed attempts to reach a ceasefire in the over three-year conflict.

“The ideas of the Kyiv leader, which are essentially a carbon copy of the initiatives of European sponsors… are absolutely unacceptable,” Moscow’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

During a speech on the sidelines of an economic forum in Russia’s far east, Zakharova called Ukraine’s hoped-for guarantees “a springboard for terror, for provocations against our country”.

“They are not guarantees of Ukraine’s security, they are guarantees of danger to the European continent,” she said.

Zelensky has said he is confident Kyiv’s allies will help “increase pressure on Russia to move towards a diplomatic solution” to the conflict.

But he has also said he is yet to see “any signs from Russia that they want to end the war”.