Zelensky: "Russia is a criminal actor and must pay the consequences."

BarcelonaUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy assured the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday that the ongoing talks to end the war with Russia are "the most intense and focused since the beginning of the conflict," and that "an agreement could be reached within days." However, he also warned that any peace agreement must be based on clear rules and thorough accountability. "Every detail matters," he asserted. And he emphasized that there can be "no reward for Russian aggression." At this stage, one of the most relevant aspects of the negotiations, what Zelenskyy called "details," are the security guarantees that Ukraine would obtain in exchange for some hypothetical concession to Donbas, which Russia wants to be the complete withdrawal of Kyiv's troops from 25% of the territory. But giving up on this is politically impossible for Zelenskyy. In this regard, and after the intense negotiations of the last few hours, especially the Berlin summit this MondayAccording to various British and American media outlets, the United States has warned Ukraine that it must accept Washington's offer of "platinum-level" security guarantees or risk losing them. In practice, this amounts to a new ultimatum from President Donald Trump. According to information that has been trickling out, Washington is proposing legally binding guarantees, comparable to NATO's Article 5, with key European support, to deter any future Russian aggression. This would translate into the presence of Western troops in Ukraine, but in no case US troops. The security guarantees are presented as the main incentive for reaching an agreement that Trump considers the most advanced to date. This would have motivated Zelensky's renunciation of one of his central demands: Ukraine's entry into NATOIn any case, any agreement Kyiv strikes with its European allies and Washington would subsequently need Vladimir Putin's approval. And if the guarantees involve a Western presence in Ukraine, the No The Russian president's support is guaranteed.

Maintain the same level of support

For his part, in his fourth address to the Dutch parliament, Zelensky insisted that Ukraine is not seeking "a pause or a temporary and uncertain solution," but rather a definitive end to the invasion. He therefore called for maintaining "the same strong political support" that the country has received since 2022 and rejected the Kremlin's narrative about the supposed "root causes" of the war. "They always blame others, as if the reason for the aggression were never in Moscow, but rather with its neighbors," he emphasized, and recalled the conflicts in Chechnya, the Balkans, Moldova, Syria, and Central Africa. Zelensky did not miss the opportunity to urge the Netherlands and the rest of its European partners to support the use of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine's defense and reconstruction. This possibility is to be discussed at the European Council meeting on Thursday, but it is encountering increasing resistance among key EU countries, including Belgium, which has among its members... banks 85% of the 210 billion"The aggressor must pay," he said, adding that the Russian elites "despise human life, but count every dollar and every euro they lose."

In the final part of his speech to Dutch members of parliament, the Ukrainian president hardened his tone and stated that "there is hardly a crime against humanity that Russia has not committed," with an implicit reference to the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, which covered the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur route. "These crimes cannot simply be forgotten. Those who have killed cannot suddenly be treated as respectable partners," he warned, and demanded detailed and effective accountability.

The address to the Dutch Parliament took place shortly before the start of the meeting, also in The Hague, where European leaders will agree on the creation of the International Claims Commission for Ukraine, a new body tasked with assessing and deciding on reparations claims stemming from the invasion of the Netherlands. The commission will have to determine which claims are valid and how much should be paid to individuals, companies, and institutions. The International Claims Commission mechanism complements the Register of Damages,Now operational, it has received more than 80,000 compensation claims and is coordinated by the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based body that brings together 46 states and oversees human rights on the continent.