Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The US on Thursday made it clear that European countries will have to shoulder the “lion’s share” of guaranteeing Ukraine’s security in the event of a deal to end Russia’s war in the country, the media reported.
According to Fox News, Vice-President JD Vance said on Wednesday that the US should not have to “carry the burden” of underpinning Kyiv’s post-war security.
“I think that we should be helpful if it’s necessary to stop the war and to stop the killing. But I think that we should expect, and the President certainly expects, Europe to play the leading role here,” he said.
“What he (Trump) said very clearly is: Look, the United States is open to have the conversation, but we’re not going to make commitments until we figure out what is going to be necessary to stop the war in the first place.”
Vance’s comments came a day after President Donald Trump ruled out the possibility of sending the US troops in Ukraine, while suggesting that Washington could provide support “by air.”
The issue of post-war security guarantees for Ukraine has been a major question mark over Trump’s push to end the three-and-a-half-year-long conflict.
After hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top European leaders at the White House on Monday for talks on the ongoing war, Trump said that European countries would be the “first line of defence”, but that Washington would provide “a lot of help.”
While the US President has ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine, his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte have raised the possibility of offering Kyiv a security guarantee resembling the 32-member security alliance’s collective defence mandate.
Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, an armed attack against one NATO member nation is considered an attack on all members of the alliance.
While Trump has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to European peacekeepers being stationed in Ukraine, Moscow has repeatedly dismissed the possibility of troops from NATO countries along its border.
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that his country must be included in negotiations on security guarantees, warning that excluding Moscow would be a “road to nowhere.”
“We cannot agree with the fact that now it is proposed to resolve questions of security, collective security, without the Russian Federation. This will not work,” Lavrov said.
Despite the sticking points between the sides, Vance said on Wednesday that the Trump administration had made “great progress” in its efforts to end the war.
“You can never say with certainty what the outcome in this situation is going to be,” Vance said.
“But we now have the Russians talking to the Ukrainians; they’re talking details about what would be necessary on each side to stop the fighting, to stop the killing.”