The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, along with European allies and Ukrainian partners, must create security guarantees for Ukraine. However, this will not involve NATO membership "for political reasons." Reports TSN. This information comes from Kontrakty.UA.
This opinion was expressed by Thomas Graham, a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, special assistant to the U.S. president, and senior director for Russia at the National Security Council from 2004 to 2007, during a discussion titled "Ensuring Ukraine's Future – What Should the United States Do?"
According to Graham, the real challenge facing the U.S. administration along with European allies and Ukrainian partners is to show Russian President Vladimir Putin that "time is not on his side."
"First and foremost, the Trump administration needs to work with our European allies and Ukrainian partners to develop a common vision of what we are trying to achieve. What is the goal? Clearly, we need to continue supporting Ukraine. This includes financial, humanitarian, and military assistance," the expert stated.
He added that the process of Ukraine's accession to the European Union is a crucial way to demonstrate that the country is moving towards Euro-Atlantic integration.
Graham also commented on security guarantees for Ukraine.
"We need to develop security guarantees for Ukraine. This will not involve NATO for political reasons. We have a series of bilateral security agreements that have been signed with Ukraine, which need to be combined in some way to provide something more than what Ukraine currently has," expressed the former assistant to the U.S. president.
It is worth noting that recently, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that any peace agreement must be more than just formal commitments on paper. Ukraine will insist on real security guarantees.