US, Allies Unlikely to Give Ukraine the Security Guarantees It Wants

In a draft peace deal, Ukraine said it would renounce plans to join NATO but wants security guarantees like NATO's Article 5

It’s unlikely that the US and its allies will be willing to give Ukraine the legally binding security guarantees it is seeking as an alternative to a NATO membership, CNN reported Friday, citing anonymous sources.

On Tuesday, Ukraine put forward a draft peace deal to Russia. Under the proposal, Ukraine would renounce its plans to join NATO. But the Ukrainians want security guarantees from the US and other Western countries that are similar to NATO’s Article 5, which states that an attack on one alliance member is an attack on all.

The US and its NATO allies have been clear that they don’t want to fight Russia for Ukraine, so it’s unlikely they would agree to what is essentially a mutual defense treaty. More importantly, there’s little chance that Russia would ever go for such an agreement since one of its primary motives for invading was Ukraine’s alignment with NATO.

Sources told CNN that the US and other NATO countries have held talks with Ukraine over the potential security guarantees. One Western official said that “anything short of full commitment to defend Ukraine won’t be enough for the Ukrainians.”

The officials stressed that the discussions on the security guarantees are still in very early stages. Russia has said it will review Ukraine’s proposal and respond soon. Talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials resumed on Friday via video link.

Overall, the US and its allies don’t appear to be very interested in fostering negotiations to reach a diplomatic solution to the war. The Financial Times reported on Thursday that the Western powers are united in their opposition to linking progress in the peace talks to sanctions relief and are prepared for a long-term economic campaign against Russia.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.