'We will work with our European allies and non-European countries, by the way, to build such a security guarantee,' says US Secretary of State
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that Washington is coordinating with European and non-European countries to build security guarantees for Ukraine.
“We will work with our European allies and non-European countries, by the way, to build such a security guarantee. We’re working on that right now. We’ll continue to work on that. And that will be something that will have to be in place after a peace deal so that Ukraine can feel safe moving forward, and we're coordinating that,” Rubio said during an interview with FOX News.
He added that while many countries are willing to provide guarantees, Ukraine itself considers a strong military the most important safeguard for its future.
“We are no longer giving Ukraine weapons. We are now selling them weapons, and European countries are paying for it through NATO. They are using NATO to buy the weapons and transfer them to Ukraine,” he added.
Rubio’s remarks came after a White House meeting Monday between President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
During the talks, the leaders discussed plans for security guarantees that could provide Ukraine protection similar to NATO’s collective defense framework.
Rutte earlier noted that under the leadership of the UK and France, a group of 30 countries, including Japan and Australia, has been working on developing security guarantees for Ukraine.
Monday's meeting followed Trump’s recent summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and a previous contentious encounter with Zelenskyy in February.
European leaders used the gathering to push for a ceasefire and strong security assurances before any peace deal.
