Before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in European capitals, a split of opinion is needed regarding support for Ukraine. The focus is on the issue of a coalition of peacekeepers to stabilize the situation in Ukraine and the prospects of its membership in NATO.
At the same time, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen believe that only membership in the North Atlantic Alliance can guarantee Ukraine's sovereignty, the Financial Times writes.
It is reported that some diplomats believe that it is impossible to organize a coalition of peacekeepers without the support of the United States of America - in particular, in the field of reconnaissance (reconnaissance to obtain information about the enemy).
"And, perhaps, without the final reinforcement of security in the form of an American nuclear umbrella," the article says.
Dutch politician and NATO's 11th Secretary General De Hoop Scheffer calls Ukraine's membership in the Alliance "the most economically efficient solution." However, according to him, US President-elect Donald Trump will not offer this option to Ukraine in order to bring Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
"He made it very clear that the Europeans will have to deploy troops on the ground, and the United States will not do that," he said.
Alyona Hetmanchuk, director of the Kyiv-based analytical center "New Europe", declares that only an "invitation and gradual accession to NATO" is the only reliable guarantee that will convince Ukraine to support the peace agreement.
According to her, European allies will need to provide "transitional" commitments, starting with military instructors and advisers and ending with "a deterrence mission in the form of combat-ready troops."
The mass media writes that the biggest differences of opinion are related to "expectations". Eastern and Northern Europe are more skeptical of Russia's readiness to sit down at the negotiating table than residents of Southern Europe.
"Skeptics themselves differ in their opinions about what Trump will do if Putin rejects his persuasion: some hope that he will double his support for Ukraine, others fear that he may abandon it altogether. This makes it difficult to find common positions that could be presented to the White House as evidence of Europe's readiness to take on a greater burden of support for Kyiv," the article says.
Earlier, we reported on the conditions under which German peacekeepers may appear in Ukraine. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that this will happen only after the fire stops.
"I want to state one thing clearly: until the war ends, there will not be a single German soldier on Ukrainian soil," he said.
