The main military leaders of the United States and some European countries have been working on plans to help provide security guarantees to Ukraine, authorities said.
They shared their ideas with national security advisors this week, as efforts continue to find ways to protect the country while the war with Russia extends.
This followed the promise of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to help protect the country under any agreement to end the war of three and a half years of Russia in Ukraine.
A Pentagon statement said that US and European planners had developed military options for the “appropriate consideration” by allied national security advisors. Reuters was the first to report that military leaders were preparing the options.
The defense chiefs for the United States, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Ukraine met in Washington, DC, between Tuesday and Thursday.
A source familiar with the matter said that the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, who also serves as Trump National Security Advisor, held a telephone conference on Thursday with his European counterparts to discuss the options.
A separate official from the United States said Rubio spoke with the National Security Advisor of the United Kingdom, Jonathan Powell, the chief of cabinet of the president of the European Commission, Bjoern Seibert, the chief of cabinet of the NATO general secretary, Geoffrey Van Leeuwen, and other national security counterparts in France, Italy, Germany and Finland.
The final details must still be resolved, said the source familiar with the matter, but European countries would provide “the part of the lion” of any force involved in security guarantees for Ukraine.
That echoed the comment of Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday that Europe would need to assume the “participation of the lion” of the costs of the operation.
“The planning work continues,” said the source, added that Washington was still “determining the scope of its role.”
Trump has said that American troops will not deploy in Ukraine, but that he has left the door open to another US military participation, including air support.
Troop displays
An option was to send European forces to Ukraine, but put the United States in charge of their command and control, sources told Reuters.
The American air support could come in several ways, including providing more air defense systems to Ukraine and enforcing an area without flying with US combat planes.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, have supported troops deployments as part of a “coalition of the provisions”, with German chancellor Friedrich Merz also pointing out the opening to the participation of their country.
The head of the German soldiers' union said Thursday that NATO European leaders must face the reality that tens of thousands of troops would need to deploy in a long -term Ukraine peace force.
Trump has pressed for a rapid end to the deadliest war in Europe in 80 years, while kyiv and his allies have expressed concern that he could try to force an agreement in the terms of Russia.
