Donald Trump has suggested the onus for providing security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire rests with Europe.
Speaking at his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Trump addressed the issue of Ukraine but appeared to refute suggestions that a minerals deal with Kyiv would commit the U.S. to guaranteeing Ukraine’s security.
“Well, I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much,” he said. “We’re going to have Europe do that.”
But he went on to suggest that the deal on rare earth minerals and other resources, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is expected to sign in Washington on Friday, would provide “automatic security.”
“It’s a great deal for Ukraine too because they get us over there, and we’re going to be working over there,” he said. “We’ll be on the land. And you know, in that way, there’s sort of automatic security because nobody’s going to be messing around with our people when we’re there.”
Zelenskyy warned that security guarantees are a vital element of any peace agreement.
“If we don't get security guarantees, we won't have a ceasefire; nothing will work, nothing,” he told the BBC.
Trump’s comments came a day ahead of a meeting with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, who is expected to make the case for a U.S. “backstop” for Ukraine’s security in the event of a ceasefire being agreed with Russia.
U.S. and Russian diplomats are engaged in a process of trying to find a solution to the three-year war. European leaders fear, however, that any ceasefire will merely give Vladimir Putin an opportunity to rearm and attack again.
“The security guarantee has to be sufficient to deter Putin from coming again,” Starmer was quoted by U.K. newspaper The Telegraph as saying. “My concern is that if there is a ceasefire without a backstop, it will simply give him the opportunity to wait and to come again—because his ambition in relation to Ukraine is pretty obvious, I think, for all to see.”
Trump said at Wednesday’s meeting that Russia’s president would have to make concessions as part of any peace deal.
“Yeah, he will. He’s gonna have to,” he was quoted by Al Jazeera as saying in response to a journalist’s question.
The U.S. president went on to address the issue of NATO membership for Ukraine.
“NATO, you can forget about,” he said. “I think that’s probably the reason the whole thing started.”
U.S.-EU relations
Trump took aim at the European Union on Wednesday, accusing Brussels of being an adversary and saying the EU “was formed in order to screw the U.S.” He went on to say he was preparing to hit the bloc with 25% tariffs, the New York Times reported.
If he proceeds with his threat, it would cause serious friction between the U.S. and the EU, which could increase the possibility of Trump trying to exclude Europe from the Ukraine peace process.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s chief diplomat, said that Europe has to be involved in any peace deal agreed upon between Russia and Ukraine.
She told the BBC on Wednesday that for any agreement to work in Europe, the consent of Europeans was required and that any peace deal would “need the Europeans as well as the Ukrainians on board.”
Kallas said Moscow is not interested in peace but merely seeks a ceasefire “in order to regroup and rearm, and they haven’t changed their goals.”
She said Ukraine needed to be supported as “the stronger they are on the battlefield, the stronger they are behind the negotiation table.”
However, The New York Times quoted an Italian analyst as saying the Trump administration had hostile intentions against Europe.
“There is no question the intention is there to destroy Europe, starting with Ukraine,” Nathalie Tocci, director of Italy’s Institute of International Affairs, said. “The empowering of the far right is instrumental to the goal of destroying the EU”.
