Rubio doubles down on Trump pledge to back Ukraine security guarantees, but Europe must take the lead - CNN
Kyiv • UNN
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told European counterparts that the US would participate in Ukraine's post-war security guarantees, but the Trump administration believes Europe should take the lead. The US is ready to play a limited role, potentially including the participation of American pilots in air support missions.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told European counterparts on Thursday that the US would participate in post-war security guarantees for Ukraine, but the Donald Trump administration believes Europe should take the lead, citing a European diplomat familiar with the phone call, CNN reports, writes UNN.
Details
According to the diplomat, during a phone call with European national security advisors, Rubio, who also serves as national security advisor to US President Donald Trump, did not provide details on the specific security guarantees the US might undertake.
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However, this conversation, the fact of which was confirmed by an administration official, provides momentum at a critical moment when Europe is seeking further engagement with the Trump administration, the diplomat noted. As Trump pushes for a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, negotiations between allies on how to ensure Moscow does not attack in the future have accelerated.
The US has stated its readiness to play a limited role in providing security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement with Russia, which could potentially include the participation of American pilots in manned air support missions, CNN sources familiar with negotiations with allies this week reported.
Trump ruled out the possibility of deploying American troops on the ground, but the US and its allies are considering a range of other options, sources said.
Europeans have told US officials that one function they would like to see from the US is continued provision of military intelligence and surveillance data, a European diplomat familiar with Rubio's phone call on Thursday said. The official added that this issue was raised directly with Trump on Monday when several European leaders visited the White House, and the US president seemed to understand it, but made no specific promises.
They reported that national security advisors from NATO, the European Union, France, Great Britain, Finland, Italy, and Germany participated in the phone call on Thursday.
On Wednesday, a meeting was held between the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, General Dan Kane, the Commander of the US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus Grinkevich, and the defense ministers of key European countries. An extended meeting of NATO defense ministers was also held on Wednesday under the leadership of the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone.
The military meetings followed White House talks on Monday between Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and several other key European allies. During the meetings, Trump stated that the US would participate in ensuring Ukraine's security, but made it clear that Europe would be the first line of defense.
An official familiar with Wednesday's meetings said that the statement about US involvement "changed everything" in planning security guarantees for Ukraine. Military planners from the "coalition of the willing" - a key group of Ukraine's allies - had already discussed Ukraine's security, but these discussions "only progressed to a certain point because it was unclear to them what the US position was," the official said.
However, according to the official, allies "certainly recognize that, despite US involvement, which they say has not yet been specifically defined, they bear an inherent responsibility for Europe's security."
Initially, Trump left open the possibility of deploying American troops on the ground in Ukraine, but ruled it out the next day during a phone interview with Fox News, suggesting, however, that the US might consider providing air support.
So far, that's the only thing definitively ruled out, a CNN official familiar with Wednesday's meetings said. This week, military leaders and strategists discussed various options: from US air support - with drones and manned aircraft - to which countries are willing to deploy troops in Ukraine, which NATO bases will be used, and much more, the publication writes.
A second source, informed about the meeting, also said that possible air support was a major topic, and that while there is some concern within the Trump administration about involving American pilots in manned air support missions over Ukraine, there is greater openness to conducting unmanned air support missions.
American pilots may also be invited to conduct surveillance flights over Ukraine, providing high-resolution images of the front line and troop movements, as part of what would be considered an intermediate option that does not involve American fighter jets performing patrol missions, two sources familiar with ongoing discussions on security guarantees said.
Ben Jensen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNN that even drone missions would be a significant step, as it could "keep Russia guessing about how much the US will commit."
But unmanned drones are too slow for so-called "on-call" missions, a third source familiar with the discussions noted, meaning that other countries would likely have to provide additional air assets if that is the maximum extent to which the US is willing to go.
An official familiar with Wednesday's meetings told CNN that some had mistakenly assumed that Trump's comments about the US not deploying troops on the ground in Ukraine also unequivocally meant that American pilots would not fly over them.
"And I would say the president didn't say that," they said.
Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Kyiv expects to understand within the next two weeks exactly what security guarantees allies are ready to provide in the event of a peace agreement.
30 countries have stated their readiness to provide security guarantees, he said, but not all of these commitments will be military aid. Some countries have only committed to providing financial support or imposing economic sanctions against Moscow in the event of another Russian attack, Zelenskyy said.
"We don't know how many countries are ready for 'boots on the ground,'" Zelenskyy told reporters at a briefing. "Some may provide forces on the ground. Some are ready to provide air defense. Some will cover the sky or conduct air patrols for a certain period, using appropriate aircraft in the necessary numbers."
Zelenskyy said that Trump's statement about US participation in security guarantees reassured other countries that had previously hesitated. He pointed to Turkey as a country now ready to help with Black Sea security. "Without coordination of security guarantees for Ukraine from the United States of America, there was some uncertainty among our European colleagues," Zelenskyy said.
Some allies have already announced their intentions. Great Britain, France, and Germany, in a joint statement on Wednesday, said they are ready to plan an active role, including the deployment of "assurance forces" ("support forces") after the cessation of hostilities.
British Defense Minister John Healey reiterated on Wednesday that the UK is ready to deploy troops to Ukraine.
But while US officials claimed their Russian counterparts signaled their willingness to accept security guarantees for Ukraine during Trump's meeting with Putin in Alaska last week, Moscow has since publicly rejected any security guarantees over which Russia would not also have veto power - a condition that would be unacceptable to Ukraine, the publication writes.
"Moscow will not agree to collective security guarantees agreed without Russia," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday, adding that Moscow would also like its ally China to be part of a security agreement. "I am sure that in the West - primarily in the United States - they perfectly understand that discussing security issues without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a path to nowhere," Lavrov added.