Military leaders from the United States and several European nations have drawn up a set of military options regarding Ukraine, which are now set to be presented to their respective national security advisers, the U.S. military announced on Thursday.
It was previously reported that U.S. and European military planners have begun exploring post-conflict security guarantees for Ukraine, following President Donald Trump’s pledge to help protect the country under any deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“These options will be presented to each nation’s respective national security advisers for appropriate consideration in ongoing diplomatic efforts,” a U.S. military statement said.
The meetings between the chiefs of defence for the United States, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and Ukraine took place in Washington, D.C., between Tuesday and Thursday.
Ukraine and its European allies have been buoyed by Trump’s promise during a summit on Monday of security guarantees for Kyiv, but many questions remain unanswered.
Officials have cautioned that it would take time for U.S. and European planners to determine what would be both militarily feasible and acceptable to the Kremlin.
One option was sending European forces to Ukraine but putting the United States in charge of their command and control, sources said.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has ruled out the deployment of troops from NATO countries to help secure a peace deal.
Troop Deployment
Trump has publicly ruled out deploying U.S. troops in Ukraine but on Tuesday appeared to leave the door open to other U.S. military involvement.
U.S. air support could come in a variety of ways, including providing more air defence systems to Ukraine and enforcing a no-fly zone with U.S. fighter jets.
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have both spoken in favour of troop deployments in a post-war settlement as part of a coalition of the willing, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also signaling openness to his country’s participation
The head of Germany’s soldiers’ union said on Thursday that European NATO leaders must not be naive when discussing a Ukraine peace force but face up to the reality that they would need to deploy tens of thousands of troops to the country for the long term.
Trump has pressed for a quick end to Europe’s deadliest war in 80 years, and Kyiv and its allies have worried he could seek to force an agreement on Russia’s terms after the president last week rolled out the red carpet for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Russia says it is engaged in a “special military operation” in Ukraine to protect its national security, claiming NATO’s eastward expansion and Western military support for Ukraine pose existential threats. Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab.
Despite Trump’s push to end the war, Russia attacked a gas compressor station in eastern Ukraine that is important for getting gas into storage facilities for the winter heating season.
(With inputs from Reuters)
