Who will eventually send troops to Ukraine?

Even after US President Donald Trump's Alaskan meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the prospect of ending the war in Ukraine is still hazy.

A quick meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky under the patronage of Trump is unlikely to happen, even though Trump called the Russian leader about it during a meeting with European politicians at the White House.

According to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Russians want to "thoroughly prepare" the negotiations. The Americans seem to accept this. Vice President J.D. Vance said that the U.S. agrees to agree on the main details of the peace settlement, including security guarantees and territorial issues, in advance. On the other hand, Zelensky wants to come to the negotiations with the security guarantees of the West.

But the West itself is not clear about them. The idea that Ukraine could be covered by Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty on mutual assistance without its membership in NATO was not understood by the Americans and the coalition of the willing. As well as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's proposal that NATO would provide Ukraine with military assistance within 24 hours in the event of another Russian attack. The mandatory delivery of military power is politically impossible.

There are also many questions about sending so-called reassurrance forces, i.e. "calming forces" to support peace from NATO armies. What would be the conditions for deployment? How would they react to being attacked? Who will pay for their posting? Won't this complicate peace negotiations if the Kremlin does not agree with their deployment in Ukraine?

Politico believes that France and Britain will not send them in the end because of the weakening of President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as both are struggling with internal political instability. The Germans say they have their soldiers in Lithuania and that they do not intend to send more to Ukraine. The Poles refused to be sent.

At the same time, the Americans no longer want to get involved in Ukraine. If they provide air support to European forces, they will be paid for it. After all, the Europeans already have to pay for American weapons for Ukraine. The conflict beyond NATO's easternmost border is already viewed by the United States as a business transaction.

J.D. Vance told the Europeans that they have to take the lion's share of the cost of providing security guarantees for Ukraine because "it's their continent, it's their security, and President Trump has been very clear — they're going to have to work hard here."

The eurointelligence.com website described the current situation quite harshly: times are changing, until now it was true that the US is an ally of Europe and Russia is a common adversary for both. But the US under Donald Trump is no longer the ally that Europe once had, and Russia is no longer America's number one enemy.

Europe does not know how to deal with the new reality, regardless of strong statements from Brussels, Berlin, Paris or London. And President Zelensky must also suspect this.

Miloš Balabán, Právo Daily