Europe Races to Leverage Trump’s Support for Ukraine Troop Plan

Kay Bailey Hutchison, former US ambassador to NATO, said a security guarantee for Ukraine, including European troops on the ground working in concert with the US, is essential to any settlement to the war there.

European leaders are discussing a security guarantee for Ukraine that would commit Kyiv’s allies to decide within 24 hours whether to provide military support to the country if it’s again attacked by Russia.

A proposal that amounts to a NATO-like collective defense clause, but doesn’t come with actual membership in the alliance, is being pushed by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. It’s among an array of options being fleshed out as European leaders leverage momentum after President Donald Trump agreed to back security guarantees for the war-battered nation.

The Italian plan recognizes that NATO membership for Ukraine is off the table, but would offer a mechanism for collective assistance as the next best option, according to people familiar with the deliberations.

The aim is to avoid Russia demanding restrictions on the size of Kyiv’s military as part of a future agreement to end the war.

A White House summit between President Donald Trump, Zelenskiy and several European leaders on Monday yielded a clearer commitment from the US administration to help guarantee Ukraine’s security. Those talks allayed concerns in Kyiv and Europe for now that the US leader had tacked toward Moscow after talks with Putin in Alaska.

“During the meeting we discussed Security Guarantees for Ukraine, which Guarantees would be provided by the various European Countries, with a coordination with the United States of America,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

European Union leaders met on Tuesday to be briefed on the outcome of the talks in Washington.

A package of security guarantees would also build on the work of the so-called coalition of the willing, a European group led by the UK and France, and is expected to include a multinational force in the future, said the people. Its format is yet to be defined, they said.

Leaders showed broad support for “Article 5-like” guarantees – a reference to NATO’s mutual defense clause and a formula originally proposed by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – at Monday’s meeting, the people said. They cautioned that the exact details and the US role in the potential arrangement will have to be first worked out by officials.

The contours of the emerging proposal suggest that the beefed-up Ukrainian armed forces would become the first line of defense in the event of a ceasefire. A multinational force from the coalition of the willing countries would be deployed further away from the frontline with the role of the US reduced to providing a backstop, possibly in the form of intelligence and air defenses.

Much remains elusive. A European official cautioned that Putin still scored a major win over the last week in avoiding fresh US sanctions. And a risk remains that Trump can blame Zelenskiy and the Europeans should an impasse emerge in the coming weeks, the person said.

But if Trump follows through with his pledge on guarantees, Putin may be forced to break his red lines or risk a rupture with Trump, the person said.

Much of the effort, including the purchase of weapons, is expected to rest on Europe’s shoulders.

Trump and a core group of European leaders are likely to hold a call in the near future to track their officials’ progress and agree on further details, said the people.

The US president told reporters Monday that “the European nations are going to take a lot of the burden” and the US would “help them and we’re going to make it very secure.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement it wouldn’t accept troops from NATO countries in Ukraine.

Trump’s special envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, said on Sunday that Moscow was open to Ukraine receiving guarantees, including Article 5-like language, from the US and other nations.

Any agreement would stop short of NATO membership for Ukraine, which remains a red line in Moscow and has been ruled out by several members, including the US.

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