Zelensky Complains He Hasn't Received A Clear Security Guarantee, Despite Big Talk From West

This week kicked off with France and the UK agreeing to send troops to Ukraine once a ceasefire with Russia is reached, and there have been unconfirmed reports that Washington is planning to do the same - but President Trump has not at all formally signed off on this.

Of course, such a move would result in a firm 'no' from Moscow, which would simply see this as NATO forces operating and constituting a threat right on its border. The big Paris conference hosted by France's President Macron on Tuesday featured the usual hawkish bluster out of European leaders, but Ukraine's Zelensky - who was present - has complained in the aftermath that a finalized agreement on security guarantees remains ambiguous and not yet confirmed.

When asked about security guarantees from the West in the event of a future post-truce Russian attack, Zelensky said, "I am asking this very question to all our partners and I have not received a clear, unambiguous answer yet."

Still, President Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff has claimed that "significant progress" had been made on the issue. "We have made significant progress on several critical workstreams, including our bilateral security guarantee framework and a prosperity plan," Witkoff stated on X immediately after the summit.

"We agree with the Coalition that durable security guarantees and robust prosperity commitments are essential to a lasting peace in the Ukraine and we will continue to work together on this effort." And yet rhetoric and statements out of Washington on the issue have been kept intentionally vague.

Zelensky has been frustrated all along: he gets robust (verbal) commitments out of the Europeans, while simultaneously Washington drags its feet or even resists - from Zelensky's perspective. It's been an enduring back-and-forth, and plenty of bickering, among the Western allies - but nothing in the end gets signed.

And Trump himself is likely to balk at anything which can be seen as violating his frequent campaign promise of no American 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine.

But speaking of something much delayed, Trump has wanted to see Zelensky swiftly hold elections. According to the latest in Ukrainian media:

Ukraine’s working group on preparing elections during a special or post-war period met for the second time on Thursday, Jan. 8, with the Central Election Commission (CEC) having prepared its proposals in advance.

The issue of holding elections in Ukraine is included among the 20 points of a peace plan developed between Washington and Kyiv.

Earlier, Ukraine’s parliament approved the creation of a cross-party working group tasked with drafting a one-off law regulating elections under martial law, amid growing domestic and international debate over how democratic processes can be preserved during Russia’s war.

This too seems a recipe for some intentional feet-dragging, and all the while Zelensky himself has piled on 'requirements' - such as a short-term truce which would allow the vote to proceed.

But Russia would have to agree to this, and it has often resisted proposals of merely short-term ceasefires. It wants a permanent, lasting political resolution and brings the war to an end. Also important that if Zelensky continues to test Trump's patience, he won't be getting any sought-after 'security guarantees' at all.