The outline of a military component of security guarantees for Ukraine is already taking shape, a top Ukrainian official said as the United States reiterated that European countries will have to shoulder most of the burden in providing the guarantees.
Work has begun on setting up the military component of the guarantees, which are being discussed as part of a settlement of the war with Russia, Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said on X.
"Our teams, above all the military, have already begun active work on the military component of security guarantees," Andriy Yermak wrote on August 20 after a meeting of national security advisers from Western countries and NATO.
"Ukraine is ready for any format of dialogue on a fair end to the war," said Yermak, but he warned against repeating the "mistake of 'Budapest,'" a reference to the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, which was aimed at ensuring security in exchange for Ukraine giving up nuclear weapons left from the Soviet era.
Russia violated the memorandum when it annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and when it started a full-scale invasion in 2022.
Yermak also said Ukraine was also working on a plan with its allies on how to proceed "in case the Russian side continues to prolong the war and disrupt agreements on bilateral and trilateral formats of leaders' meetings."
Later on August 20, US Vice President JD Vance said Europe should be prepared to take the lead on providing the security guarantees.
"I don't think we should carry the burden here. I think that we should be helpful if it's necessary to stop the war and to stop the killing. But I think that we should expect, and the president certainly expects, Europe to play the leading role here," Vance said on Fox News.
"No matter what form this takes, the Europeans are going to have to take the lion's share of the burden," he said.
US President Donald Trump said earlier this week on Fox News that on the question of security, European countries "are willing to put people on the ground. We're willing to help them with things, especially, probably...by air."
Trump provided no details about what US airpower would be provided but said it could support a deployment of European troops that France and Britain are thinking about providing under a so-called Coalition of the Willing.
"We'll give them very good protection," Trump said.
Security guarantees were a main topic of discussion on August 18 when Trump hosted Zelenskyy and the leaders of several European countries at the White House. The meeting followed his summit last week in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Despite Trump's attempts to draw the two sides to the negotiating table, Putin has shown no sign of backing down from demands for territory, including land not under Russia's military control.
