by WorldTribune Staff, February 25, 2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday all but accused Joe Biden of abandoning Ukraine as it attempts to fight off an invasion from Russia.
“This morning we are defending our state alone. Like yesterday, the world’s most powerful forces are watching from afar,” Zelensky said. “Did yesterday’s sanctions convince Russia? We hear in our sky and see on our earth that this was not enough.”
Ironically, Ukraine is protected by a ‘Nuclear Umbrella’ provided by communist China in a late-2013 agreement, noted Miles Yu, China advisor to former Sec. of State Mike Pompeo.
“China pledges unconditionally not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against the nuclear-free Ukraine and China further pledges to provide Ukraine nuclear security guarantee when Ukraine encounters an invasion involving nuclear weapons or Ukraine is under threat of a nuclear invasion,” said a joint statement on the pact.
China’s official media, including Xinhua and Global Times, touted the deal with the headline “China Pledges Nuclear Umbrella to Protect Ukraine,” Yu, former contributing editor for Geostrategy-Direct noted in a 2013 column for the Washington Times which elaborated on the agreement:
Ukraine and China also agreed they would not allow “the establishment of any separatist, terrorist and extremist organizations or groups, and any of their acts, to harm each country’s sovereign rights, security and territorial integrity.” This might require Kiev to crack down on any organized dissent against Beijing.
The joint statement also uses boilerplate language requiring Ukraine to recognize Beijing as China’s sole legal representative and Taiwan as illegitimate, thus securing Kiev’s opposition to any form of Taiwanese independence.
Yu noted the irony then which still holds today: “Still, the Ukraine-China security pact ignores the elephant in the room, namely, that the country most likely to even contemplate threatening to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine is Russia, China’s other “strategic partner.”
Even after announcing new sanctions on Russia, Biden on Thursday said that “no one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening.”
On Tuesday, White House deputy national security adviser Daleep Singh had said: “Sanctions are not an end in themselves. They’re meant to prevent and deter a large-scale invasion of Ukraine that involves the seizure of major cities, including Kyiv.”
The Ukrainian capital Kyiv was targeted with missile fire early Friday, Ukrainian officials said.
Zelensky said in an address to the nation:
“We are left alone in defense of our state. Who is ready to fight with us? Honestly – I do not see such. Who is ready to guarantee Ukraine’s accession to NATO? Honestly, everyone is afraid. … I tell all the partners of our state: now is an important moment – the fate of our country is being decided. I ask them: are you with us? They answer that they are with us. But they are not ready to take us to the Alliance. Today, I asked the twenty-seven leaders of Europe whether Ukraine will be in NATO. I asked directly. Everyone is afraid. They do not answer.
“And we are not afraid of anything. We are not afraid to defend our state. We are not afraid of Russia. We are not afraid to talk to Russia. We are not afraid to say everything about security guarantees for our state. We are not afraid to talk about neutral status. We are not in NATO now. But the main thing – what security guarantees will we have? And what specific countries will give them?”
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