NATO military leaders to meet on Aug. 20 to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine
NATO military leaders are scheduled to meet virtually on Aug. 20 to discuss the alliance's support for Ukraine as European leaders continue negotiations with Kyiv and Washington on security agreements for the embattled country.
NATO's military committee chair Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone announced the meeting on social media. While NATO itself is unlikely to enforce security guarantees in Ukraine given Russian President Vladimir Putin's objections, a number of NATO countries appear to have committed to doing so through "Article 5-style" guarantees under the French and British co-led "Coalition of the Willing."
Dragone said that Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) Alexus Grynkewich, who oversees all NATO operations in Europe, will attend to brief NATO chiefs of defense.
As NATO officials plan to gather to work out the logistics of ongoing support for Ukraine, European leaders continue to negotiate the details of a security agreement in Kyiv. Members of the 33 nation Coalition of the Willing met on Aug. 19 to discuss progress stemming from the meeting between certain EU leaders, President Volodymyr Zelensky, and U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House the day prior.
"The leaders of Canada, Japan, Turkey, New Zealand, and European countries assessed the outcomes of the Alaska meeting very realistically," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X following the wider meeting. "We all confirmed the need for continued support for Ukraine in the war with Russia."
As negotiations persist, Trump told Fox News on Aug. 19 that U.S. soldiers will not be on the ground in Ukraine to ensure security guarantees are upheld, deflecting the responsibility to European allies.
"We've got the European nations, they'll frontload it," Trump said. "Some of them: France, and Germany, U.K., they want to have boots on the ground."
Following Trump's comments, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Sky New that it was "premature" to say that British troops will be sent to Ukraine's front line, adding that the country will nonetheless play their part.
European officials confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that a series of meetings among the participant countries of the "Coalition of the Willing" could take place in the coming days to hash out the details.
Despite a lack of details, allies appeared to make progress in coming to a consensus on what security guarantees for Kyiv may look like.
"We'll give them (Ukraine) very good protection, very good security" Trump told reporters during the meeting. The U.S. president added that any security agreements would be done in "coordination with the United States."
Commenting on his outlook for his country's own security, Zelensky said the first part of these guarantees for Ukraine should be its own "strong army." The second part is a package of American weapons, with Zelensky telling reporters that Ukraine has proposed buying U.S. weapons worth $90 billion as part of the guarantees.
As discussions carry on, Zelensky held meeting with various world leaders on Aug. 19, including EU Council President Antonio Costa and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
"We are now actively working at all levels on the specifics — on what the architecture of the guarantees will look like — with all members of the coalition of the willing, and in particular, in a very detailed way with the United States. This is one of the biggest outcomes of the Washington meetings," Zelensky said following his meetings.
"Reliable security guarantees for Ukraine — ones that will actually work — are the most important achievement of our joint efforts," Zelensky concluded.
