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NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Wednesday he expects clarity during a summit of Ukraine allies on Thursday "or shortly thereafter" about the security guarantees Europe can offer Kiev after Russia's war in Ukraine ends.
"I expect that tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, we will have clarity about what we can offer collectively," Rutte said at a press conference with Estonian President Alar Karis at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
"This means that we can engage even more intensively, including with the American side, to see what they want to contribute in terms of security guarantees," he added.
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host a largely virtual meeting on Thursday of leaders of the "coalition of the willing," mainly European allies who have worked on security guarantees for Ukraine.
The aim of the guarantees is to prevent Russia from carrying out any new attacks on Ukraine after the war has ended, whether through a ceasefire or a permanent peace agreement.
Western officials say the most important element of the guarantees will be continued and robust support for Ukraine's armed forces, but the measures are also expected to include an international force to provide security for Kiev.
European leaders have made it clear that such a force will only be possible with the support of the United States.
US President Donald Trump pledged this last month, but Washington has not yet decided what it is willing to offer.
Rutte tried at the press conference to assure NATO members in Eastern Europe that resources dedicated to security guarantees for Ukraine would not weaken the Western alliance's defenses against Russia on the eastern flank.
"We must prevent over-dispersion of our resources, and that means we must always look at what impact it will have on NATO's (defense) plans," he said./ REL
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