US ambassador to NATO outlines Washington stance on Ukraine security guarantees
US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker (photo: Getty Images)
The United States does not rule out that it may join the countries that will provide security guarantees to Ukraine. But any security guarantees will be outside NATO, said US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker on Fox News.
He emphasized that NATO has a security architecture in Europe, and this is important for European allies, the United States and Canada.
"At the same time, it's been very clear, any security guarantees would be outside of NATO even if the United States were participating in the security guarantees," the ambassador said.
Whitaker recalled the words of US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff about security guarantees based on the principle of Article 5 of NATO. This article of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an armed attack on one of the NATO countries will be considered an attack on all members of the Alliance.
"I would guess there are boots on the town, a Coalition of the Willing that includes France, Germany, Great Britain, and possibly the United States; that the same type of attack on all would be part of the Coalition of the Willing on the ground in Ukraine (security guarantees – ed.)," Whitaker explained.
He added that Ukraine will be part of the Coalition of the Willing, and this is one of the key issues that will be considered at the White House meeting.
Security guarantees
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff stated that during the summit in Alaska an agreement was reached that Washington and its allies could provide Ukraine with "game-changing" guarantees in the form of protection similar to Article 5.
He also noted that after the meeting of President Donald Trump with President Vladimir Putin, Russia would not oppose such an option as part of a potential peace plan.
At the same time, Axios reported that Trump's team does not rule out the deployment of American troops in Ukraine. However, such information was officially denied.
