Territories to be ceded and security guarantees. These are the two rocks fundamentals on which the game is played peace in Ukraine three and a half years after the Russian invasion. “There were important talks in Washington… it was done an important step, a demonstration of true unity between Europe and the United States”: wrote the Ukrainian president on Telegram Volodymyr Zelensky after meetings at the White House with US President Donald Trump and European leaders. And while the White House number one "celebrates" with a flurry of posts on Truth and announces preparations for a Putin-Zelensky bilateral and a trilateral (with Trump) by the end of August, with two major issues remaining in the background. Putin and Zelensky haven't seen each other in person since 2019: a meeting between the two would be hailed as a historic event.
Russia-Ukraine: the territorial issue
Of the possible transfer of territories There was no discussion from Kiev during the long day of meetings at the White House despite Trump having been referring to the exchange of territories for weeks.
The issue was addressed behind the scenes, however, with some photos released by the White House showing Trump and Zelensky in front of a map.
The Ukrainians, however, have asked that the issue be addressed separately, by starting a negotiated with PutinIt is unlikely that Zelensky will accept the first version of the map of territories proposed by the Russian president, which provides for the transfer of Crimea and at least part of the Donbass. Sources of Fox News they say that Americans and Europeans have “kindly made suggestions on the territories” to him, so that he thinks about “what is critical for him to keep and what he can give up”, while knowing that he must bring this message home and formulate a “counter-offer”.
Security guarantees to Ukraine
Counter-offer that Zelensky could make more digestible thanks to the “security guarantees" that the Ukrainian president will be able to wrest from European leaders and the United States, and that the country is clamoring for from Western countries to defend itself from possible future Russian attacks. At the end of the various meetings, no concrete plan was communicated, but the leaders' words did suggest some hypotheses.
“We discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, guarantees that will be provided by various European countries, in coordination with the United States“, Trump explained without going into detail. The US president did not rule out the deployment of American soldiers"We'll let you know, maybe later today" (which, however, didn't happen). He then assured: "There will be a lot of help in terms of security."
“We are evaluating NATO Article 5-style guarantees“, explained Secretary General Mark Rutte in an interview with Fox, specifying that there was no discussion of the possible deployment of American troops. "We will work on this in the coming days; we need to discuss more details," he added. "The West will formalize security guarantees for Ukraine." within 10 days“, Zelensky announced, implying that negotiations will continue. The Ukrainian president, speaking to reporters at the White House, also said that his country has offered to purchase US weapons worth $90 billion. The announcement comes as European countries recently confirmed they will invest billions of dollars to purchase weapons from U.S. companies to support Ukraine, including systems Patriot.
