US offers NATO-like security assurances to Ukraine
The suggestion was raised during a call US President Donald Trump held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders on Saturday, the day after Trump's summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
'As one of the security guarantees for Ukraine, the American side proposed a non-NATO Article 5 type guarantee, supposedly agreed with Putin,' the diplomatic source told AFP on condition they not be identified in any way.
NATO's collective security is based on its Article 5 principle: if one member is attacked, the entire alliance comes to its defence.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was on the call with Trump, confirmed the US president had raised the idea of a security guarantee 'inspired' by Article 5, which she has been pushing for several months.
The starting point for the proposal was defining a collective security clause 'that would allow Ukraine to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the US, (which would be) ready to act in case it is attacked again', Meloni said in a statement.
In March, Meloni told Italian senators that any such response would not necessarily involve going to war.
She noted that, while NATO's Article 5 has the use of force as an option, 'it is not the only possible option'.
'No-one knows how this could work"
Kyiv has long aspired to join NATO - but Russia has given that as one of its reasons for its war in Ukraine, and some Western circles have expressed resistance to the idea.
Trump has repeatedly ruled out Ukraine joining the Western military alliance.
Before his joint call with Zelensky and European leaders, Trump spoke just with the Ukrainian president about Friday's Alaska summit.
'The American side voiced this (joint security proposal) during a conversation with the president (Zelensky) and then repeated it during a joint conversation with the Europeans,' the diplomatic source said.
Another source with knowledge of the matter confirmed the NATO-like guarantees had been discussed.
But that source added: 'No-one knows how this could work and why Putin would agree to it if he is categorically against NATO and obviously against really effective guarantees of Ukraine's sovereignty.'
Meloni's statement made no mention of whether the idea had been discussed with Putin.
Zelensky is due in Washington on Monday for talks with Trump.
The second source told AFP that Zelensky is to discuss what form a possible Trump-Putin-Zelensky summit would have, the role of Kyiv's European allies in peace talks, territories, and security guarantees.
'Coalition of the Willing' to meet on Sunday
The leaders of Britain, France, and Germany will hold a video call on Sunday with Kyiv's allies, described as a 'coalition of the willing,' to discuss steps toward peace in Ukraine, the French presidency said.
The meeting - jointly coordinated by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz - will take place a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travels to Washington, following a US-Russia summit, the Élysée said on Saturday.
(bms, sm)
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