A New York Times report warned that potential "security guarantees" that President Donald Trump and Europe may offer Ukraine amid high-stakes discussions to end Russia's invasion could fall flat or present a "big roll of the dice."
Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday at the White House, accompanied by European leaders, to discuss ending the invasion. During the meeting, Trump said the United States would provide Ukraine protection and affirmed U.S. involvement in security assistance as part of any peace deal.
"We're going to be discussing it today, but we will give them very good protection, very good security," Trump said.
Trump didn't elaborate on specific security guarantees and didn't commit to deploying American troops in Ukraine.
The New York Times noted that Britain Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested assembling a peace force, created from a “coalition of the willing” that would stay in Ukraine.
After the meeting, New York Times National Security Correspondent David Sanger examined a few possibilities of such a force — and warned that each comes with risk.
First, he looked at the concept of a "full-blown 'peacekeeping force,' presumably armed, that would supplement the Ukrainian military."
The force would be in place for defense, and would be meant to deter Russia by making Putin "think hard about getting into a conflict with soldiers from NATO member states."
There's just one problem.
"The problem is that to be a credible deterrent, that would take tens of thousands of troops," he warned.
Sanger also looked into another possibility: a “tripwire” force. This group would be much smaller in size, and would not be able to take on Russia, he warned. Though Russia may hesitate to risk killing non-Ukrainians.
"That, however, is an untested theory — and a big roll of the dice," he warned.
He then looked at a third option: an "observer force." This group would be small as well and would primarily report on whether Russian troops are threatening Ukraine. That, too, came with concerns.
"But that role could be accomplished with satellites and ground cameras, and the force wouldn’t be big enough to mount any kind of defense," he said.