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Doubts Grow on Ukraine Security Plan Amid Russian Demands
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6:13Now PlayingEfforts to establish security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a US-led push to end Russia’s war are running into difficulties almost immediately.
US, Ukrainian and European officials have started hashing out proposals for a post-war plan to protect Ukraine, after White House officials said Russian President Vladimir Putin was open to “Article 5-style” security guarantees for Kyiv, a reference to NATO’s collective defense commitment.
The Kremlin hasn’t confirmed publicly that Putin made such a commitment at his summit with US President Donald Trump in Alaska last week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Russia should have a say in security arrangements for Ukraine, which could also involve China. Hours later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ruled out Beijing as a potential guarantor of peace.
Lavrov reiterated the demand on Thursday, saying Moscow had supported a Ukrainian proposal at negotiations in Istanbul shortly after the 2022 invasion began that would have involved the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the US, Russia, China, the UK and France, in security guarantees.
Bloomberg's Jennifer Welch discusses the roadblocks to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, including the role that India and China have play in Russia's position in negotiations.
Russia supports guarantees based “on the principle of collective security, on the principles of indivisible security,” Lavrov said. “Anything else, anything unilateral is, of course, an absolutely hopeless undertaking.”
Several senior European officials and diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they viewed Lavrov’s comments as an attempt to stall the process, and expressed doubt that Putin is willing to make a deal. Trump is pressing for Putin and Zelenskiy to meet for direct talks as the next stage of US efforts to reach an end to the war that’s in its fourth year.
Lavrov’s pushback on security guarantees has effectively fractured Russia’s talks with the US, a European official with knowledge of the matter said. The Kremlin may now try to convince the White House to abandon the push for security guarantees for Ukraine and downgrade the Putin-Zelenskiy meeting to one with lower-level officials in an effort to dodge new US sanctions, the official added.
Zelenskiy and a delegation of European leaders rushed to the White House on Monday for talks with Trump after the US president rolled out the red carpet for Putin at their summit and appeared to swing toward Russia’s positions on the war. He abandoned demands for Putin to agree to a ceasefire ahead of negotiations and said Ukraine would have to concede territories to Russia as part of a settlement.
The talks in Washington yielded a commitment from Trump, at least for now, to join security guarantees for any peace deal and reserve discussion on territorial swaps with Russia for later.
Zelenskiy pushed back against Lavrov’s comments. “We don’t need guarantors who don’t help Ukraine, and didn’t help Ukraine at the moment when we really needed it,” he told reporters Wednesday in Kyiv.
In 2022, Moscow pressed for security guarantees that would have effectively given guarantor states — including Russia and China — a veto over Ukraine receiving help if it was attacked.
Zelenskiy reiterated that he’s willing to meet Putin, but ruled out any meeting in Moscow and said talks should be held in “neutral Europe,” citing Switzerland, Austria and Turkey as potential venues.
Lavrov appeared to downplay prospects for an early summit, telling reporters Thursday that Putin was ready to meet Zelenskiy once “all issues that require consideration at the highest level are well worked out.”
US Vice President JD Vance said in a Fox News interview Wednesday that negotiations are focused on security guarantees for Ukraine and territory Russia wants to control, including Ukrainian land that Russia isn’t occupying. Russia has demanded that Ukraine cede control of its entire Donbas region.
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