The US has proposed security guarantees for Ukraine similar to鈥攂ut separate from鈥攖he collective defence agreement between NATO member countries, Italy鈥檚 prime minister and a diplomatic source said on Saturday.
The suggestion was raised during a call US president Donald Trump held with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders on Saturday, the day after Trump鈥檚 summit with Russia鈥檚 Vladimir Putin.
鈥楢s one of the security guarantees for Ukraine, the American side proposed a non-NATO Article 5 type guarantee, supposedly agreed with Putin,鈥� the diplomatic source told AFP on condition they not be identified in any way.
NATO鈥檚 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 鈥榠nspired鈥� by Article 5, which she has been pushing for several months.
The starting point for the proposal was defining a collective security clause 鈥榯hat 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鈥�, 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鈥檚 Article 5 has the use of force as an option, 鈥榠t is not the only possible option鈥�.
Kyiv has long aspired to join NATO鈥攂ut 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 Zelensky and European leaders, Trump spoke just with the Ukrainian president about Friday鈥檚 Alaska summit.
鈥楾he 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,鈥� the diplomatic source said.
Another source with knowledge of the matter confirmed the NATO-like guarantees had been discussed.
But that source added: 鈥楴o-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鈥檚 sovereignty.鈥�
Meloni鈥檚 statement made no mention of whether the idea had been discussed with Putin.
Zelensky is due in Washington on Monday for talks with Trump.
The second source told AFP that Zelensky is to discuss what form a possible Trump-Putin-Zelensky summit would have, the role of Kyiv鈥檚 European allies in peace talks, territories, and security guarantees.
