The Trump administration made a massive political blunder on August 20th in its pursuit of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. The blunder centered on a “virtual” meeting led by NATO.
Prior to that meeting, Trump had promised the Russians that any deal would rule out Ukraine’s NATO membership. Apparently the Russians read Trump’s assurance to include no NATO peacekeepers. That was a mistake.
The administration did not consult with the Russians ahead of the NATO parlay.
The NATO-led meeting was intended to lay out military options to meet Ukraine’s request for security guarantees. The discussion apparently considered different views on what a security guarantee would actually look like: Would it, for example, include troops. If so, how many? Where would they be based in Ukraine? And what role would they perform?
Stories are around that some countries – the British and French in one version, the British, Germans and Poles in another (unlikely option) – would actually put boots on the ground in Ukraine, although British sources insist that its troops would not be on the front line but “far back” from the action.
President Donald Trump says that the US won’t send any troops, but will support a security guarantee for Ukraine with US aircraft, presumably mainly spy aircraft (which, anyway, the US is regularly doing). But Trump has also touted US air superiority against Russia, suggesting that the US air patrols might well include fighter aircraft such as the F-35. Would these aircraft operate from Ukrainian soil or from bases in Poland and Romania, for example?
The virtual meeting included the defense chiefs from all 32 NATO member countries. The meeting was overseen by Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of NATO’s Military Committee.
