Meloni has a plan to guarantee Ukraine’s security: Decide response within 24 hrs if Russia attacks

European leaders are scrambling to chart out a workable plan for Ukraine’s security guarantees that would be activated if Russia attacks the country and would enable Kyiv’s allies to decide within 24 hours whether to provide military support to it.

Amid all the discussions, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is pushing a plan that is similar to Nato’s collective defence clause but does not require Kyiv to become a member of the alliance at the same time.

What’s the plan?

The Italian proposal acknowledges that Nato membership for Ukraine remains out of reach for now but aims to provide an alternative framework for collective support, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

This so-called “Nato-light” approach would stop short of the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defence commitment but would require countries with bilateral security agreements with Ukraine to consult swiftly in the event of an attack, sources told Bloomberg.

The Italian plan involves providing Kyiv with rapid and sustained defence support, along with economic assistance, bolstering the Ukrainian military, as well as imposing sanctions on Russia.

Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told local newspaper Repubblica that Meloni’s plan “is that NATO, as a defensive alliance, able to ensure the protection of a foreign country like Ukraine. Alternatively, individual nations could commit to doing so. The best mechanism will be chosen eventually. Certainly, with NATO, a superior deterrent would be guaranteed.”

‘Russia must be part of security guarantees’

Russia said on Wednesday it had to be part of any discussion on security guarantees for Ukraine and downplayed the likelihood of an imminent summit with President Volodymyr Zelensky, tempering hopes for a quick peace deal.

NATO military chiefs meanwhile held a virtual summit on security guarantees for Ukraine, the latest in a flurry of global diplomacy aimed at brokering an end to the nearly three-and-a-half year conflict.

“On #Ukraine, we confirmed our support. Priority continues to be a just, credible and durable peace,” the chair of the alliance’s military committee, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, wrote on X after the meeting.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier warned that “seriously discussing security guarantees without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere”.

With inputs from agencies