To ensure Ukraine's security, the US proposed Article 5-style guarantees for the non-NATO member nation, reportedly with the agreement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, AFP reported on 16/8, citing an anonymous diplomatic source.
According to the source, the proposal was made by President Trump during a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders after the US-Russia summit in Alaska.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who also participated in the call, later confirmed that President Trump had raised the idea of security guarantees "inspired" by Article 5 of NATO's collective defense treaty. However, she did not mention whether the idea was discussed during the meeting between Trump and Putin.
The starting point for the proposal was to establish a collective security clause "allowing Ukraine to benefit from the support of all partners, including the US, and Washington would be ready to act in case Ukraine is attacked again," Prime Minister Meloni said.
In March, the Italian prime minister told the country's senators that such a response would not necessarily lead to war. She noted that Article 5 allows the use of force, but "that is not the only possible option."
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US President Donald Trump at a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, on 15/8. Photo: AFP |
US President Donald Trump at a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, on 15/8. Photo: AFP
Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that any attack against one member of the alliance is considered an attack against all, and NATO will coordinate a response.
Ukraine enshrined the goal of joining NATO in its constitution in 2019, despite warnings from Russia that the possibility of NATO deploying forces and weapons near its border would create an unacceptable security threat.
Russia later cited this as one of the reasons for launching its attack on Ukraine. President Zelensky's government applied to join NATO in 9/2022, more than six months after the war began.
At the late 2024 summit in Washington, NATO countries issued a joint statement affirming the "irreversible" future of Ukraine's membership but did not extend an invitation to Kyiv.
President Trump has repeatedly rejected the possibility of admitting Ukraine to the military alliance. After the summit with Putin, Trump spoke by phone with Zelensky first, and European leaders joined the call later.
The US side raised the joint security proposal during the phone call with President Zelensky and then reiterated it in the joint call with European leaders," the diplomatic source added.
Another source said that NATO-like security guarantees were discussed but emphasized that "no one knows how this proposal will be implemented and why Putin agreed while strongly opposing Ukraine's NATO membership."
The US and Russia have not yet commented on this information.
After the summit in Alaska on 15/8, President Putin announced that he had reached an agreement with Trump, expressing hope that Ukraine and Europe would not hinder the process of ending the conflict. Meanwhile, Trump assessed that Washington and Moscow had made great progress but had not yet reached an agreement.
President Zelensky will visit Washington on 18/8 to meet with Trump and discuss "all the details related to ending the war."
Huyen Le (According to AFP, Reuters)
