By Andrew Gray
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday he expects clarity at a summit of Ukraine’s allies on Thursday “or soon after” on what security guarantees Europe can offer Kyiv after Russia’s war in Ukraine comes to a halt.
“I expect tomorrow, or soon after tomorrow, to have clarity on what collectively we can deliver,” Rutte told a press conference with Estonian President Alar Karis at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
“That means that we can engage even more intensely, also with the American side, to see what they want to deliver in terms of their participation in security guarantees.”
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will co-host Thursday’s mostly virtual meeting of leaders of the “coalition of the willing” of mainly European allies who have been working on security guarantees for Ukraine.
Such guarantees are intended to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again after the war stops, whether through a ceasefire or a permanent peace deal.
Western officials say the most important element of the guarantees will be continuing strong support for Ukraine’s armed forces, but the measures are also expected to include an international force to reassure Kyiv.
European leaders have made clear such a force will be feasible only with U.S. support. U.S. President Donald Trump promised this last month but Washington has yet to spell out what it is willing to contribute.
Rutte sought at the press conference to reassure eastern European NATO members that any resources devoted to security guarantees for Ukraine would not weaken the Western military alliance’s defences against Russia on its eastern flank.
“We have to prevent spreading our resources too thinly, and this means that we always have to look at what the impact will be on the NATO (defence) plans,” he said.
(Reporting by Andrew Gray and Makini Brice; Writing by Andrew Gray and Charlotte Van Campenhout, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Comments