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Seated around the same table at the White House, five European leaders, the President of the European Commission and the Secretary General of NATO rallied around the Ukrainian President to support his demands for peace in the presence of US President Donald Trump.
The EU is back at the negotiating table on a possible peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, according to this expert.
“I dare say that the EU is back but now we have to stand firm and show determination. And that also means a willingness to accept the risk, especially by giving Ukraine a security guarantee with troops on the ground,” Sven Biscop, director of the Egmont Institute, a Brussels-based think tank, told Euronews.
The priority for the Europeans was to push for security guarantees in Kyiv to be an integral part of any possible future peace agreement, to protect Ukraine from another Russian attack in the future.
Security guarantees
In a U-turn, the US President hinted for the first time that the US might provide Ukraine with security guarantees.
“Trump said this time that the Europeans should provide a security guarantee coordinated by the United States,” Biscop explained.
“This is really a change of viewpoint because initially he was saying that this was the job of the Europeans and that the United States or NATO would not be involved. So it’s a move in the right direction, but it’s still not very detailed.”
An agreement has yet to be reached on what security guarantees the United States and the EU are prepared to provide to Ukraine.
Article 5
The best would be one that comes closest to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, according to the director of the Egmont Institute.
“A security guarantee means promising to go to war if your security is threatened. Anything less than that is support, but it is not a security guarantee. The best way to make this credible is to deploy troops to Ukraine after a ceasefire or peace agreement,” says the researcher.
Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Western allies would formalise security guarantees for Ukraine within the next ten days.
