Ukraine, allies working on security guarantees potentially similar to NATO Article 5, Zelensky says

Ukraine and its allies are working on security guarantees that offer "the protection that Article 5 provides to NATO countries," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 25.

U.S., U.K., German, French, and Ukrainian officials met in London on April 23. A copy of a peace proposal given to the U.S. by Ukrainian and European officials earlier this week calls for a NATO "Article 5-like agreement" backed by the U.S.

Zelensky said Ukraine and its allies worked on security guarantees at the London meeting on April 23.

"There were American proposals or visions, a group in London worked on this, consisting of our colleagues from Europe and the United States," Zelensky told journalists.

Zelensky clarified that Ukraine and Europe did not propose Article 5 protection from NATO itself, but that the security guarantees mirror the protection it offers.

"Not Article 5 itself, but specifically those forces and the protection that Article 5 provides to NATO countries," he said.

If Ukraine does not receive backing to join NATO, "then at this time we need security guarantees," Zelensky said.

The president noted, "these are proposals, and our responses to these proposals," and not finalized security guarantees.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said Ukraine could be barred from joining NATO as part of a potential peace deal to end Russia's war.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on March 19, "Extending NATO's Article 5 to Ukraine seems to be the simplest and most effective proposal of all, also because it would help call a possible bluff."

"If Russia does not plan to invade its neighbors again, it is not clear why it should not accept security guarantees that are only defensive," she said.

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The Kyiv IndependentNatalia Yermak