Europe and Kiev demand security guarantees from the United States as part of a future agreement to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and insist on preserving the country's possibility of NATO membership, the New York Times writes, citing its sources.
“The Europeans, as usual, supported Ukraine's position, insisting that any agreement must be accompanied by security guarantees, including from the United States“, the publication says.
According to the publication's interlocutors, the European allies also insist that the United States leave the door open for Ukraine's NATO membership, even if this is "not expedient now".
The newspaper noted that these issues were discussed at Saturday's meeting between British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and representatives of Ukraine and Europe, which was also attended by US Vice President J. D. Vance.
“Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Mr. Putin, was supposed to connect virtually“, the authors of the article add.
As Axios wrote earlier, in these talks on Saturday, Ukrainian and European officials told Vance that the first step should be an immediate ceasefire and that Kiev should not cede territory in exchange for a truce.
The New York Times claims that European countries are concerned about the possibility of reaching an independent agreement between the presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Therefore, they want guarantees that Zelensky will attend the meeting of the leaders of the two countries. In addition, the Europeans want to participate in the negotiation process, but this scenario is unlikely, the publication notes.
The Kremlin and the White House announced on Saturday evening that the leaders of Russia and the United States will meet in Alaska on August 15.
According to the adviser to the Russian president, Yuri Ushakov, Putin and Trump will focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. In turn, after the announcement of the upcoming Russian-American summit, Volodymyr Zelensky said that he would not make territorial concessions.