The US asked Russia about security guarantees for Ukraine modeled on Article 5 of NATO — FT
Kyiv • UNN
Washington asked Moscow whether it objected to security guarantees for Ukraine modeled on Article 5 of NATO. The final decision will be made by Trump.
The US asked Russia about its position on Washington providing Ukraine with a "security guarantee similar to Article 5" of NATO. Financial Times reported this, citing a source, writes UNN.
A US official said that the administration had asked Moscow whether it would object to Washington providing Ukraine with a "security guarantee similar to Article 5," referring to NATO's collective defense provision, and to the alliance making the same offer
The publication's source added that "any final decision on the nature of the US security guarantees will ultimately depend on Trump."
Negotiators from the US, Ukraine and Russia will meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10 for their first trilateral talks since February, reviving diplomatic efforts to end the war, which stalled after US President Donald Trump launched his military campaign against Iran, the publication notes.
"The two-day talks will focus on postwar security arrangements for Russia and Ukraine, as well as territorial issues in eastern Ukraine," US officials said. They added that "Washington believes resolving both sets of issues simultaneously is crucial to ending the war."
The discussions, it said, "are based on a series of diplomatic contacts last month, with US officials saying they are now in daily contact with the Russians and Ukrainians."
"But expectations of a breakthrough remain low," as Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin shows little sign of readiness to end the conflict, which is now in its fifth year, the publication writes.
A US official said that "the Trump administration is seeking to secure Russia's agreement to multilateral talks involving European officials." "We firmly believe that, at this point, in order to end the war, Europe really needs to be at the negotiating table," they added.
"These efforts will likely bring relief to Europe. The Trump administration's proposal last week for new European security 'frameworks,' agreed with Moscow, worried European capitals, which insisted that they must be involved in any such talks and that a settlement in Ukraine must come first," the publication says.
Ahead of Tuesday's talks, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner were due to meet with officials from Ukraine, the EU and NATO, as well as Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy, for consultations.
The US president said last week that he hoped talks with Russia would lead to a "big, beautiful deal" extending far beyond Ukraine.
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Russia said it welcomed a shift toward discussing future postwar security guarantees, but otherwise showed no signs that Putin was ready to make concessions, the publication notes.
"Putin sees this winter as the ideal time to weaken Ukraine through a devastating campaign of airstrikes against its infrastructure," according to sources familiar with his thinking.
"Putin demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the frontline areas of Donbas under Kyiv's control as a precondition for a ceasefire, and would link any future security guarantees to greater territorial concessions," they said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, said that any talks on territory could take place only at a meeting between the leaders.
Senior Ukrainian officials said that "their expectations for the talks in Abu Dhabi are low, echoing Zelensky's recent warnings that Moscow is intent on continuing the fight rather than negotiating any settlement."
Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said on Monday, November 9, that the talks would focus on "coordinating the principles to be approved after negotiations on a comprehensive settlement have concluded."
Russia said it would not meet directly with European officials in Abu Dhabi.