Non-NATO pact for Ukraine? US floats NATO-style security guarantees for Kyiv

The United States has proposed offering Ukraine a set of NATO-style security guarantees that stop short of full alliance membership, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and diplomatic sources confirmed AFP on Saturday. The proposal, raised by President Donald Trump during calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders following his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, would create a “non-NATO Article 5” clause to assure Kyiv of collective support without extending NATO membership, a key Russian red line.

“As one of the security guarantees for Ukraine, the American side proposed a non-NATO Article 5 type guarantee, supposedly agreed with Putin,” the diplomatic source told AFP on condition they not be identified in any way.

NATO’s collective security is based on its Article 5 principle: if one member is attacked, the entire alliance comes to its defence.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was on the call with Trump, confirmed the US president had raised the idea of security guarantee “inspired” by Article 5, which she has been pushing for several months.

The starting point for the proposal was defining a collective security clause “that would allow Ukraine to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the US, (which would be) ready to act in case it is attacked again”, Meloni said in a statement.

In March, Meloni told Italian senators that any such response would not necessarily involve going to war.

She noted that, while NATO’s Article 5 has the use of force as an option, “it is not the only possible option”.

Kyiv has long aspired to join NATO – but Russia has given that as one of its reasons for its war in Ukraine, and some Western circles have expressed resistance to the idea.

Trump has repeatedly ruled out Ukraine joining the Western military alliance.

Before his joint call with Zelenskyy and European leaders, Trump spoke just with the Ukrainian president about Friday’s Alaska summit.

“The American side voiced this (joint security proposal) during a conversation with the president (Zelensky) and then repeated it during a joint conversation with the Europeans,” the diplomatic source said.

Another source with knowledge of the matter confirmed the NATO-like guarantees had been discussed. But that source added: “No-one knows how this could work and why Putin would agree to it if he is categorically against NATO and obviously against really effective guarantees of Ukraine’s sovereignty.”

European Leaders Reaffirm Support for Ukraine

Several European leaders jointly pledged to continue support for Ukraine and maintain pressure on Russia until the war in Ukraine ends, after a summit in Alaska between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The joint statement from leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was issued after Trump briefed them on his talks with Putin.

It said the next step must be talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and that they were ready to work with Trump and Zelenskiy towards a three-way summit with European support.

Trump said after his talks with Putin that Ukraine should agree a deal to end the war with Russia.

He said he had agreed with the Russian leader that the best way to do this was to go straight to a peace settlement rather than via a ceasefire, something hitherto opposed by Kyiv and its European allies.

The European statement – also signed by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and European Council President Antonio Costa – said Ukraine must have “ironclad” security guarantees to defend its territorial integrity.

“It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.

“Our support to Ukraine will continue. We are determined to do more to keep Ukraine strong in order to achieve an end to the fighting and a just and lasting peace,” the statement said.

“As long as the killing in Ukraine continues, we stand ready to uphold the pressure on Russia. We will continue to strengthen sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia’s war economy until there is a just and lasting peace.”

With inputs from agencies