Coalition of the Willing meets, agrees to develop 'robust security guarantees' for Ukraine amid peace talks
Ukraine and its allies met on Nov. 25 for a "Coalition of the Willing" meeting to discuss security guarantees amid intensified efforts by the U.S. to broker a peace deal.
"The absolute condition for a good peace is a set of very robust security guarantees and not paper guarantees. Ukraine has had its share of promises that were shattered by successive Russian aggressions, and real rock-solid guarantees are a necessity," French President Emmanuel Macron said at the virtual meeting.
After the meeting, Macron told reporters that France and other European allies would, in the coming days, work towards using frozen Russian assets to provide financial assistance to Ukraine.
European countries have been in talks to provide Ukraine with a loan backed by frozen Russian assets without undermining trust in European banking institutions or leaving individual countries on the hook for the loaned money.
Macron said in a separate interview that soldiers from France, the U.K., or Turkey could be sent to Ukraine as part of the "reassurance force" on the day a peace deal is signed.
A peacekeeper deployment in Ukraine would not be carried out by NATO, but as part of an "intergovernmental coalition," he said, amid Russian opposition to the presence of NATO troops on the territory of Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined the Coalition of the Willing meeting for the first time and was joined by other leaders, including President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The officials welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts "to put an end to the war, and underlined that any solution must fully involve Ukraine, preserve its sovereignty, be in line with the principles of the United Nations Charter, and guarantee its long-term security," a statement from Starmer's office read.
On Nov. 24, U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll traveled to Abu Dhabi for negotiations with Military Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov and a Russian delegation, Driscoll's spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Tolbert, confirmed to Axios.
The talks in Abu Dhabi follow negotiations among U.S., Ukrainian, and European representatives in Geneva, Switzerland.
An initial U.S. proposal for a peace plan faced controversy prior to talks in Geneva from White House lawmakers, European leaders, and Ukraine, who have said the draft rewarded Russia for its war.
"We must protect lives, strengthen our defense, and hold the front line, keep sanctions against Russia, finally channel frozen Russian assets to bolster Ukraine's protection, and work out finally a doable framework for the deployment of the reassurance force (to) Ukraine of the Coalition of the Willing by signing of a relevant Memorandum of Understanding," Zelensky said at the meeting.
