Rubio to be in charge of talks on Ukraine security guarantees
Senior officials from the U.S., Ukraine and several European countries are expected to work in the coming days on a detailed proposal for security guarantees for Ukraine, likely involving U.S. air power, Axios reported referring to sources.
“A U.S.-European-Ukrainian commission was formed to draft a proposal for security guarantees. The commission is headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with national security advisers from Ukraine and European countries also participating in the discussions,” Axios said Tuesday.
Security guarantees were reportedly a key topic of U.S. President Donald Trump's meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and seven other European leaders at the White House on Monday. Earlier on Tuesday, Trump stressed that there would be no U.S. troops on the ground, but said he was open to providing U.S. military air support to European forces in Ukraine. Trump also said Ukraine would not be part of NATO, but stressed that European countries were willing to have troops on the ground outside of NATO.
“While a European security force on Ukrainian soil might be the toughest Ukrainian demand for Putin to accept, territorial concessions are likely the most difficult issue for Zelensky to navigate,” the ezine said.
During his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy said he's willing to discuss territorial issues, but stressed that they needed to be negotiated between him and Putin, a Ukrainian official said. The official claimed Trump agreed. When Trump called Putin on Monday evening, he told the Russian president he will have to meet directly with Zelenskyy to discuss his territorial demands and urged him to be "realistic." However, there is still no date or location for such a meeting.
“Trump and the European leaders agreed it needs to happen by the end of August, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that full preparations would have to be made at working levels before the leaders could sit down together,” the ezine said.
During a White House discussion of security guarantees, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it "categorically" rejected the possibility of "deploying a military contingent with the participation of NATO countries" inside Ukraine. Putin said during his summit with Trump that he was ready to discuss the principle of security guarantees, but mentioned China as a potential guarantor.