By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – An air raid siren sounded in Kyiv during NATO military alliance Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s unannounced visit, ironically while he discussed future security guarantees for wartorn Ukraine amid intensified Russian missile and drone attacks.
Speaking alongside President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Rutte stressed that Ukraine needs robust protection if peace is to take hold. “We do not want a repeat of the Budapest Memorandum or the Minsk Agreement,” he said.
In exchange for giving up the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal inherited after the Soviet collapse, Ukraine received assurances of its independence, sovereignty, and existing borders under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Russia later violated those commitments by seizing Crimea in 2014 and invading Ukraine in 2022.
The Minsk Agreement, brokered by France and Germany between Ukraine, Russia, and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, froze an armed conflict but never led to a final settlement, with both sides accusing each other of violations.
Rutte said any new deal must avoid those failures, adding that NATO allies are working on “Article 5-type” guarantees—collective defense arrangements short of full NATO membership.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty is the alliance’s collective defense clause: an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. While Ukraine is not a NATO member, Rutte said allies are exploring guarantees modeled on this principle to deter future Russian aggression.
AIR RAID ALERT
He met Zelenskyy while an air raid alert reverberated in Kyiv after several days, when residents were forced to spend long hours underground in the capital’s metro stations, often sheltering with pets and children, amid Russia’s stepped-up drone and missile strikes.
Ukraine reported fresh Russian missile and drone strikes across the country on Friday.
Zelenskyy accused Moscow of trying to block direct talks with him, saying Russia is “doing everything possible to stop a meeting with me.”
He urged Western nations to increase pressure on the Kremlin to secure a just peace.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump has said that Washington will help assure Ukraine’s security in a peace deal but insists that Europe must bear most of the financial burden.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, warned against concessions that would leave Ukrainian territory under Russian control, calling it “a trap.”
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