This is the main conclusion of the August 18 talks between the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Finland, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with Donald Trump in Washington.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the “most important” result of the meeting was the “US commitment to work with us to provide security guarantees” to Ukraine. His words are quoted by Euronews. These security guarantees are expected to be similar to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, but there is no question of Ukraine’s membership in the Alliance. This was emphasized by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
At the same time, the Financial Times specifies The Financial Times specifies that the American president sees this “result” in the form of another deal – within the framework of which Ukraine has pledged to buy $100 billion worth of American weapons to obtain security guarantees from the United States, and the European Union will pay for these purchases. The publication emphasizes that Donald Trump remains true to himself, prioritizing the desire to help American industry. When asked about further assistance to Ukraine, he unequivocally answered: “We don’t give anything. We sell weapons.”
In this context, the world media emphasize that although EU leaders talk about “agreements” with the United States on security guarantees for Ukraine, Americans and Europeans see this process differently. While the EU leaders are even discussing the option of bringing their troops under the guise of “peacekeeping forces” into Ukraine, the United States categorically rejects this possibility.
After his meeting with European leaders on Monday, Donald Trump wrote on social media that preparations were already underway for a bilateral meeting between Russian and Ukrainian leaders Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, and then “in the near future” the organization of a trilateral summit with Trump’s participation is also possible.
However, European leaders fear that these meetings may not go according to their script. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that such a meeting “should be well prepared; we will do it together with President Zielenski.” He said that he does not currently know what this meeting could bring, Euronews noted.
