US Vice President JD Vance said that European countries will have to bear the "lion's share" of the burden of Ukraine's security guarantees, Reuters reported.
"I don't think we should bear the burden there. I think we should, if necessary, help stop the war and the killing. But I think we should, and those are certainly the expectations of the president, for Europe to play the leading role there," Vance told "Fox News". "Whatever form the situation takes, the lion's share of this burden will have to fall on the Europeans."
Russia said it must be part of any discussions on security guarantees for Ukraine and downplayed the likelihood of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky soon, dashing hopes for a quick peace deal, the agencies reported.
Against this backdrop, NATO defense chiefs held a video conference call on security guarantees, the latest in a series of intensified global diplomacy to end the conflict that has raged for more than three and a half years.
"On Ukraine, we have reaffirmed our support. The priority remains the conclusion of a just, reliable and lasting peace," wrote the chairman of the alliance's Military Committee, Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, in Ex.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that holding "serious discussions on security guarantees without Russia is utopia, a road to nowhere".