President Zelensky:
We’re not going to defend your country during the current Russian invasion, but if there’s another Russian invasion, we’ll come running, armed to the teeth.
Honest, cross our hearts and hope to die.
President Trump, Prime Minister Starmer, President Macron
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Probably a more realistic thing to do is to have the US pay 27% of the salaries of Ukrainian military, the EU to pay 27% too, the UK to pay 6%, up to $12 billion a year, and up to $200 billion in total.
This would permit Ukraine to retain its battle-hardened fighters in its military and give Ukraine the financial flexibility to prepare against future Russian threats.
I expect one of Putin’s demands will be disarming Ukraine. If so, the security guaranty won’t be worth the paper it’s written on. Without both a strong military AND security guaranties, Russia will just be back in a few years.
5 European heads of state (6 if you include Ukraine), the NATO Secretary and the President of the EU will be meeting with Trump at the White House tomorrow. If some kind of security guaranty is really on the table, I suspect Trump will be explaining to these leaders exactly what Europe’s commitments will be, and that they will be more significant in both blood and treasure than the US.