Ukraine & NATO: Trump’s Security Guarantee Impact

With France‘s President Emmanuel Macron at the forefront, 26 countries on Thursday promised security guarantees for Ukraine – when the time comes.

“This is an important development,” says Pernille Rieker, expert on security and foreign policy and center manager at the Arena Center for European Research at the University of Oslo.

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Also opens for military forces

The fact that 26 countries undertake (26 out of 35 in the coalition of willing) is a significant step compared to the countries that originally supported this policy, she points out. Previously, there were eleven countries.

– It is an important development when 26 countries will provide security guarantees, many of them also in the form of forces or support functions for Ukraine, even though it is France and the UK who go the longest in that area, says Rieker to Nettavisen.

– At the same time, these security guarantees will probably only be credible if the United States also gives its support. So far, it is uncertain how far Trump will go here, she points out.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who participated in Paris, emphasized after the meeting that a “strong Ukrainian army is and will remain the central element of security guarantees”.

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COLLECTION: US special envoy Steve Witkoff is welcomed by France President Emmanuel Macron during the Paris meeting on Thursday. In the background, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyj grifts to Finland’s President Alexander Stubb.
Foto: Ludovic Marin (Reuters)

Macron: – Clear for lasting peace

– The coalition of willing has achieved real progress in Paris. United for Ukraine. We are ready for a lasting peace with strong security guarantees.

That was the message from the host, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, after the Paris meeting on Thursday.

Leaders from around 30 countries – from Europe, Canada, Japan and Australia – participated in the talks, some of them via video link, such as Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. The meeting took place in the Élysée Palace. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, was also in Paris.

What 26 of the coalition countries committed to is to participate in a Peace Force Force) in case of ceasefire.

Macron said after the meeting that the United States has also expressed a clear desire to participate in the security guarantees, but what role the United States will play is not yet clear.

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In the Elysse Palace: France’s President Emmanuel Macron hosted when Ukraine’s supporters in the coalition of willingness met in the Elysse Palace on Thursday. Here he greets Finland’s President Alexander Stubb.
Photo: Ludovic Marin (AFP)

Germany: – When the framework is clear

Germany says they are ready to increase the financing and training of Ukrainian forces, but have not yet made a decision on possible military participation related to a security guarantee for Ukraine.

“Germany will decide on a military commitment when the framework is clear,” said a spokesman for the government, according to the German broadcaster DW.

Italy: Not soldiers

Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says it is not appropriate to send Italian soldiers to Ukraine, but that Italy will be able to contribute to the monitoring of a possible peace agreement. This is reported by the AFP news agency.

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, who physically participated in the Paris meeting and plays a central role in the US-Europe dialogue, according to Finnish broadcaster Yle says it is too early to determine what will be Finland’s role in the security guarantees, but he says Finns will not be sent to the front of Ukraine.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says it is too early to determine a framework for guarantees as long as there is no peace, reports NTB.

Putin with Moscow invitation

Russian President Vladimir Putin took the occasion during a conference in Vladivostok on Friday to comment on the promises Ukraine’s friends made in Paris. Several media, including The Kyiv Independent, have reproduced the statements.

“If decisions that will lead to peace are made to long -term peace, then I see no need for their presence in Ukrainian territory,” he said of foreign security forces.

Then he added a slightly threatening tone:

– If these forces are set, for example, while the fighting is constantly raging, then they will be considered “legitimate goals”.

Putin, after all, was well informed about what was actually proposed in Paris, that the prerequisite for such forces is a peace agreement or at least a ceasefire.

At the same time, Putin repeated his invitation that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyj can come to Moscow if he wants to talk about peace and added that he guaranteed for Zelenskyj’s security there.

Increased support: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had around 30 nations in the back of the Paris meeting and was promised security guarantees from 26.
Foto: Ludovic Marin (Reuters)

Trump with a request to the EU

Increased sanctions against Russia were also the theme of the Paris meeting. Finland’s President Alexander Stubb revealed that US President Donald Trump had urged the EU to do what they can to throat Russia’s oil and gas revenues.

The staff around Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trump will discuss this “Over the next 24 hours,” Stubb said. It reports the website Euractiv, which also points out that such an embargo will be well marked in Hungary and Slovakia.

There are two EU and NATO countries that have done little to make themselves less dependent on Russian supplies. If Trump follows up the pressure against the EU, it can not only hit Putin, but also two heads of state who despite the Ukraine war used to be a friendly deal with the Kremlin: Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico.

By the way, Zelenskyj had a meeting with Fico on Friday, where, among other things, European security architecture and energy independence were the theme. Fico was the only leader from an EU country to appear in Beijing on Tuesday where Putin and Kim Jong-un were a guest at Xi Jinping during a large military parade. In a meeting with Putin, Fico expressed great interest in continuing supplies of Russian oil and gas, according to a minutes of the Russian presidential office.