{"id":271124,"date":"2026-01-06T23:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/271124\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T23:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:23:08","slug":"europe-and-us-commit-to-legally-binding-security-guarantees-in-ukraine-peace-deal-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/271124\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe and US commit to \u2018legally binding\u2019 security guarantees in Ukraine peace deal \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

European leaders<\/a> and US<\/a> officials committed to \u201clegally binding\u201d assurances western allies would jointly guarantee Ukraine<\/a>\u2019s security from a future Russian<\/a> attack, as a core element of any peace deal to end the brutal conflict. <\/p>\n

A Paris<\/a> summit of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, attended by the leaders of Europe\u2019s major powers and US officials, mapped out proposed security guarantees that would be offered to comfort Ukraine in a truce. <\/p>\n

Washington refrained from offering its full backing to European-led efforts to backstop a ceasefire, seen by Kyiv as necessary to deter Russia from mulling another invasion several years after any peace settlement. <\/p>\n

The meeting in the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace was attended by a significant number of European leaders and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The US administration\u2019s envoy tasked with helping to broker an end to the war, Steve Witkoff, and US president Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, attended the meeting. <\/p>\n

A joint statement released afterwards committed to a \u201csystem of politically and legally binding guarantees\u201d that would kick-in following a ceasefire in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\"ZelenskiyZelenskiy (left) and Macron shake hands as they deliver a press conference upon the signing of the declaration in Paris on Tuesday. Photograph: Ludovic Marin\/Pool\/ AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

However, language in any earlier draft of the text binding the US to play a \u201cvital and closely coordinated role in the provision of these security guarantees\u201d, was removed from the final version. <\/p>\n

Europe and Kyiv\u2019s diplomatic efforts have for months focused on locking in US backing for ironclad security guarantees, in the event Mr Zelenskiy agreed to a truce in the full-scale war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. <\/p>\n

The plans drawn up in Paris envisaged a settlement where the US would lead work monitoring a ceasefire along the front line. <\/p>\n

A special commission would be established to investigate any breaches of the truce and attribute responsibility, as well as \u201cdetermine remedies\u201d. <\/p>\n

The coalition agreed that Ukraine\u2019s army would benefit from continued financial support and assistance.<\/p>\n

European governments reiterated their support to deploy some type of armed force, made up of troops from contributing states, to reassure Ukraine.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ireland to deploy large numbers of undersea trackers to detect Russian submarinesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cCo-ordinated military planning has been conducted to prepare for reassurance measures in the air, at sea and on land and for the regeneration of the armed forces of Ukraine,\u201d a joint statement said after the meeting. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe confirmed that these reassurance measures should be strictly implemented at Ukraine\u2019s request once a credible cessation of hostilities has taken place. These elements will be European-led, with the involvement also of non-European members of the Coalition, and the proposed support of the US,\u201d the communique said. <\/p>\n

A future attack by Russia would trigger \u201cbinding commitments\u201d from Ukraine\u2019s allies to restore peace. <\/p>\n

Aid provided to Ukraine in such a scenario \u201cmay include the use of military capabilities, intelligence and logistical support, diplomatic initiatives, adoption of additional sanctions,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n

Britain and France would establish \u201cmilitary hubs\u201d inside postwar Ukraine, to shore up its defences, UK prime minister Keir Starmer said after the meeting. <\/p>\n

French president Emmanuel Macron said he believed US commitments to support the proposed security guarantees were \u200cgenuine \u200band \u200dcould be trusted.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump has been upping the pressure on Ukraine to compromise and sign up to a ceasefire deal that would end the deadliest conflict on the Continent since the second World War. <\/p>\n

Ukraine has lobbied for admission into the US-led Nato military alliance, and the cover of a common defence clause membership brings, something Mr Trump has ruled out. <\/p>\n

Previous attempts by European governments and Mr Zelenskiy to shape the ongoing US-led peace negotiations have run up against opposition from Russia, who continue to demand Kyiv give up territory Ukrainian forces hold in the east, as the price of any truce. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European leaders and US officials committed to \u201clegally binding\u201d assurances western allies would jointly guarantee Ukraine\u2019s security from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,356,6586,2219,13,14,6,14370,5446,11,12,15,16,5765,5,4897,11935,550,7,8,2264,384,2263,2267,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-271124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-emmanuel-macron","12":"tag-european-union","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-helen-mcentee","17":"tag-keir-starmer","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-micheal-martin","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-north-atlantic-treaty-organisation-nato","25":"tag-paris","26":"tag-russia","27":"tag-top-stories","28":"tag-topstories","29":"tag-ukraine-crisis","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-vladimir-putin","32":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskiy","33":"tag-world","34":"tag-world-news","35":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115850733462391376","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}