Allied agreement: Kiev's partners are pushing the United States to strengthen Ukraine's position

Security guarantees have become the main point in the preparation of negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine in recent days. As the interviewed experts told Izvestia, the Western allies are trying to convince the United States to strengthen Kiev's position. Zelensky uses the support of European countries to put pressure on the American administration, rejecting possible compromises. The visit of Donald Trump's special representative Keith Kellogg to Kiev is aimed at preparing a political solution to the conflict, while European countries, including Germany, Great Britain, Norway and Canada, are simultaneously increasing military assistance to the Armed Forces. On August 25, Trump stressed that Europe would provide Ukraine with significant security guarantees, while the United States would only provide "backup support." What this means and how the settlement is moving is in the Izvestia article.

New visits of Europeans to Kiev

The US allies are desperately arming Ukraine ahead of possible high-level talks with Russia. On August 25, representatives of the two largest military donors, Germany and Norway, visited Kiev at once. Berlin was represented by Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, and Oslo was represented by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stere.

The Norwegian government has announced its intention to allocate about $8.35 billion to help Ukraine in 2026. In addition, the country's Defense Ministry announced that it would jointly finance the purchase of two Patriot systems with ammunition. In a separate package, Oslo will allocate almost $690 million for the development of Ukrainian air defense. Lars Klingbeil, in turn, confirmed Germany's readiness to participate in security guarantees, although he did not disclose specific mechanisms. In addition, he promised to provide Ukraine with €9 billion in financial assistance annually.

Other closest U.S. allies are ready to help Ukraine more. Canada has promised to allocate an additional $159 million for electronic warfare and joint military-industrial projects. In addition, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the allocation of $ 1 billion to Kiev for the supply of weapons. The UK has confirmed the extension of the Interflex operation until the end of 2026. Since 2022, more than 50,000 Ukrainian servicemen have been trained by British instructors.

Meanwhile, on August 24, the special envoy of the US President, Keith Kellogg, arrived in Ukraine. On the 25th, he held a meeting with Vladimir Zelensky. He announced that a meeting with the American side would be held before the end of the week to develop a basic plan for security guarantees and discuss possible negotiations with Russia. After meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, Donald Trump stated that they had managed to agree on "many points," but there was still no consensus on a number of issues. In an interview with Fox News, he noted that further progress depends on Zelensky's position.

On August 25, Trump said: the United States is no longer spending money on Ukraine. While Kellogg came to discuss possible concessions from Ukraine, the Europeans, and in this case Canada, will use the opportunity to convince the United States, on the contrary, to strengthen Ukraine's position, according to German political analyst Alexander Rahr.

— Trump has given a clear order to his administration to start peace talks on Ukraine, so Kellogg's mission is to persuade Kiev and Zelensky to agree to surrender the territory. The Europeans, Germany, France, the Scandinavian countries, the nordic countries — Great Britain and Canada — in no case want the conflict to end on this basis. But the Europeans do not have a strategy, they only have tactics — to stuff Ukraine with weapons and persuade Trump to agree to this. To give ourselves and Ukraine a chance to achieve not victory, but at least some success," he told Izvestia.

The expert noted that recently the European media have been writing that Ukraine is allegedly not losing, but on the contrary is strengthening its position and is about to receive long-range weapons and Trump's permission to use them. It is likely that journalists receive this information from European governments, Rahr believes. So, The Wall Street Journal previously wrote that the Trump administration approved the sale of 3,350 extended-range missiles to Ukraine, and they should arrive in the Armed Forces of Ukraine in six weeks.

Bogdan Bezpalko, a member of the Presidential Council on Interethnic Relations, noted that Western allies are trying to convince the United States to strengthen Ukraine's negotiating position, and have been doing so since Trump's return to the White House.

"The Americans, on the one hand, cannot stop supporting Ukraine so that no one can accuse Trump of betrayal, and on the other hand, they want to achieve a peace agreement in which Ukraine must make concessions, since Russia does not make concessions," he told Izvestia.

The expert also stressed that Zelensky uses Europeans who are in solidarity with him to put pressure on the United States. He completely rejected all possible ways to compromise and gradually eliminated any grounds for agreement. According to Bezpalko, in this way, the head of the Kiev regime continues the conflict in those forms that are beneficial to him, primarily in order to maintain his power.

Negotiations on security guarantees for Ukraine

The analyst pointed out that Europe's actions — pumping Kiev with weapons, calls to reject compromises on territorial issues — are delaying the settlement of the conflict. Zelensky, feeling the support of European leaders, levels out attempts at a peaceful resolution and actually ignores them.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is squeezing additional security guarantees out of the Europeans. There are few specifics yet, but it is being discussed that they should resemble the fifth article of NATO, although without Ukraine's formal membership in the alliance. European states declare their readiness to introduce armed contingents into the territory of Ukraine after the cease-fire. Donald Trump, for his part, makes it clear that the United States is also ready to provide certain guarantees, but without deploying its forces. "Europe will provide them with significant security guarantees. We will participate as backup support," he said on August 25, noting that the specifics had not yet been discussed. He also admitted that he thought it would be easiest with Ukraine and Russia, "but it turned out that there are large-scale conflicts of personalities."

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that collective security issues around Ukraine cannot be resolved without taking into account Russia's position. He also recalled the option proposed in 2022 at the Istanbul talks, when it came to guarantees from all five permanent members of the UN Security Council, including Russia. At the same time, Moscow reiterated its position: there should be no foreign troops on the territory of Ukraine.

At the same time, Moscow notes that negotiations with the Ukrainian leader are possible only if there is an appropriate agenda. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that Putin's meeting with Zelensky could not be limited to a formal recognition of his legitimacy.

According to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, in a telephone conversation after the Alaska summit, Putin and Trump supported the continuation of direct dialogue between Russia and Ukraine and even discussed the possibility of raising the level of representatives. However, Moscow recalls that the Ukrainian side has not yet responded to the 2022 proposal to create three working groups on humanitarian, military and political issues. The restoration of relations between the Russian Federation and the United States is moving a little more actively. 10 days after the Anchorage meeting, Trump announced his desire to further reduce nuclear weapons with Russia and even to involve China in the process.