Germany's Welt am Sonntag reports that the European Union is currently discussing with Kyiv possible security assurances with the aim of providing what the outlet says are "extensive security commitments" by the beginning of July.
In a May 11 report, the news outlet cites a draft document it has seen in which Brussels also grapples with the question of whether soldiers from EU countries may be deployed to Ukraine.
It says envoys from the EU's 27 member states "recently agreed" on the 11-page "confidential" text.
The outlet quotes the text as, in Welt's words, "exclud[ing] the direct participation of EU soldiers alongside Ukrainian soldiers in combat operations against Russia."
But the draft reportedly pledges weapons and nonlethal supplies and training and other assistance.
While an overwhelming majority of the bloc agrees with providing military supplies to Ukraine, questions of degree have persisted between even staunch hawks to help that country beat back the full-scale Russian invasion that began in February 2022.
For months now, French President Emmanuel Macron has declined to rule out the possibility of troops from among Kyiv's Western allies being sent to Ukraine. Asked directly in mid-March, he said that "all these options are possible."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to paint the military supply of Ukraine as an indication that NATO and the West are already de facto involved in the conflict.
The United States and other supporters of Kyiv reject that characterization.
And NATO and the United States have cautiously limited their involvement to avoid giving Moscow the upper hand in what they regard as a war of conquest in Ukraine that threatens the international order and sovereignty.
