Russia resists West-supported guarantees to protect Ukraine

Efforts to establish security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a US-led push to end Russia's war are running into difficulties almost immediately.

- Bloomberg

US, Ukrainian and European officials have started hashing out proposals for a postwar plan to protect Ukraine, after White House officials said Russian President Vladimir Putin was open to “Article 5-style” security guarantees for Kyiv, a reference to Nato’s collective defence commitment.

The Kremlin hasn't confirmed publicly that Putin made such a commitment at his summit with US President Donald Trump in Alaska last week.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Russia should have a say in security arrangements for Ukraine, which could also involve China. Hours later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ruled out Beijing as a potential guarantor of peace.

Lavrov reiterated the demand on Thursday, saying Moscow had supported a Ukrainian proposal at negotiations in Istanbul shortly after the 2022 invasion began that would have involved the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the US, Russia, China, the UK and France, in security guarantees.