Security guarantees are coming for Ukraine, putting Europe on the hook
US President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House in the midst of negotiations to end the Russian war in Washington, DC on August 18, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
In the face of this, the conversations between US President Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders went well on Monday.
The US and Ukrainian leaders were painted together cheerful and smiling – far from the extraordinary shouting match and public humiliation of Zelenskyy during his last trip to the White House in February.
The talks on Monday, including a series of European leaders, made progress to end the long -term war between Russia and Ukraine, and Trump said that a meeting will be held between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy, and then a triple meeting to attend.
However, the most important development for Kyiv and Europe, Trump’s expression Safety guarantees for Ukraine by European countries “Coordination with the United States”
Zelenskyy, as a “big step ahead”, said that the security guarantees package for Ukraine, which was later popular with Kiev’s leadership and is seen as a deterrent to future Russian aggression, would include a large American weapon with the financing supported by Europe. The agreement said, “next week will be officially officially on paper,” he said.
Which security guarantees?
The details are still insufficient as what the security guarantees may contain. In a press conference, Trump said in a press conference that Europe will “get too much burden for them, but the United States will help and make it” very safe “.
In any case, security guarantees mean that they are probably a hook to fulfill what they have promised before, called the “willing coalition” of Europe and the countries that propose to supervise the peace agreement.
French President Emmanuel Macron implied that the “first security guarantee we’re working on – and most importantly – a strong Ukrainian army consisting of a few hundred thousand men with defense systems and higher standards”.
“Secondly, the assurance forces, the British, the French, the Germans, the Turks, and these operations are not on the pre-front front, not in a provocative way, but to have assurance operations in the air, sea and land.
Chatham House Research Assistant Jaroslava Barbieri, CNBC said in a statement on Tuesday, the general mood from the talks on Monday is “cautious optimism”, but there are many unknowns.
“However, we should say that the maximalist demands of the Kremlin on Ukraine have not changed and therefore, if there is any unity deployment, we should say that there are still a number of uncertainty about the details and details.
Barriers of Peace
European leaders expressed misrepresentation of the lack of ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine before a peace agreement was negotiated, but for now, they seem to be willing to accept peace and Ukraine and Europe.
Former Lithuania’s former Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Tuesday that Europe is still struggling to be heard by saying that Europe is still unable to find its strength and “leverage ability”.
“What came out of the meeting yesterday, Europe yesterday to help the US, asking for a cease -fire, soldiers to help any conversation, and then some leaders, ‘Well, some Ukraine regions may disappear, but this is a real’ he said. This does not seem to find the power of Europe,” he said.
“Like Europe, we’re in a very weak position and we have to please President Trump as much as possible and we have nothing to put on the table ‘.
Moreover, it is not clear whether the Kremlin will even accept to direct negotiations with Zelenskyy. Putin’s deputy presidency Yuri Ushakov said on Monday that Trump and Putin said that they would be necessary to examine the possibility of raising the level of representatives of Ukraine and Russian sides, but a definite decision was not made.
The proposed summits between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy would protect a process live towards a possible solution of the conflict, but Holger Schmieding, the chief economist of Berenberg Bank, would follow the Russian script.
“Putin can already determine difficult conditions for a meeting with Zelenskyy. And at a meeting with Zelenskyy, Putin’s biggest goal may be to detect the crime for any failure in Zelenskyy instead of accepting a cease -fire or a final agreement. The result remains very uncertain.”
