Europe and US agree to ‘robust’ security guarantees for Ukraine

European and US allies of Ukraine on Tuesday agreed on “robust” security guarantees for Kyiv to come into force after an eventual ceasefire in Russia’s war against the pro-Western country that would see the United States lead a truce monitoring mechanism, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky signed a declaration of intent that foresees Britain, France and other European allies deploying troops on Ukrainian territory after a ceasefire.

Macron said after the meeting in Paris that the moves represented “robust security guarantees for a solid and lasting peace”, hailing an “operational convergence” among allies including the United States.

The security guarantees are “the key to ensuring that a peace agreement can never mean a Ukrainian surrender and that a peace agreement can never mean a new threat to Ukraine” from Russia, Macron said.

“It’s important that today the coalition has substantive documents. These are not just words. There is concrete content: a joint declaration by all the coalition countries and a trilateral declaration by France, Britain and Ukraine,” Zelensky said.

“It has been defined how those forces will be managed and at what levels command will be exercised,” Zelensky added.