Accelerated Efforts for Ukraine’s Security Guarantees Following Diplomatic Talks
Efforts to establish security guarantees for Ukraine have intensified following a gathering of European leaders at the White House in late August. U.S. President Donald Trump indicated that a bilateral summit between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin is forthcoming, reports 24brussels.
Trump emphasized that while the U.S. would support a mission to Ukraine, the deployment of American troops remains off the table.
“Trump knows that Ukraine needs real security guarantees, and he’s doing this: not repeating Budapest, not repeating Minsk,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. He was referring to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which Ukraine relinquished its nuclear arsenal in exchange for territorial assurances from Russia, the U.K., and the U.S., and the Minsk ceasefire agreements that followed Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 — all of which have been violated by Russia.
Despite these developments, Putin has shown reluctance to engage. The Kremlin has been evasive regarding a potential meeting with Zelenskyy while continuing its extensive bombing campaign against Ukrainian cities.
Moscow has also dismissed the notion of deploying European troops to Ukraine.
Rutte cautioned against overestimating Russia’s capabilities, stating that its economy “is not bigger than Texas.”
