Ukraine prepares military component of new security guarantees
Andriy Yermak (photo: Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Head of the Ukrainian President's Office Andriy Yermak held the first and very lengthy coordination call with national security advisors representing Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, as well as the EU and NATO, Yermak wrote.
"Together we are moving clearly according to the priorities defined by the leaders. Everything must be very concrete and effective to prevent a repetition of aggression. We remember the mistake of the Budapest Memorandum and decades of declarative statements. In our time, there must definitely be no mistakes," he stated.
According to Yermak, Ukraine, together with teams from other countries, has already begun active work on the military component of security guarantees. In particular, the development of necessary actions is underway in case the Russian side continues to drag out the war and disrupt agreements on bilateral and trilateral formats of leaders' meetings.
"Ukraine is ready for any format of conversation about a fair end to the war, and we are grateful to President Trump, everyone in America, everyone in Europe for their support. The Russians must take the corresponding steps, or feel additional truly painful pressure from the world," Yermak wrote.
He also reported that Ukraine had agreed with its partners to coordinate positions on a daily basis.
Security guarantees for Ukraine
On August 18, a meeting was held at the White House with the participation of the President of Ukraine and the leaders of the United States, France, Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, as well as the President of the European Commission and the Secretary General of NATO. The main topic of the negotiations was security guarantees for Ukraine.
The allies discussed the possibility of creating a protection mechanism that would be similar in substance to Article 5 of NATO but would operate outside the Alliance.
US President Donald Trump confirmed that the United States is ready to participate in such guarantees. At the same time, he emphasized that the main responsibility should rest with the European partners and stated that the deployment of American troops to Ukraine is excluded.
At the same time, following the meeting at the White House, about 10 countries agreed to send troops to Ukraine. The Coalition of the Willing will also send its military planners to the United States for consultations.
After the meeting at the White House, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the details of the guarantees are expected to be agreed upon within 10 days.
In addition, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni proposed to European leaders a plan for providing security guarantees to Ukraine in the format of collective assistance, which does not envisage NATO membership.
