"We asked the Russians..." Ukraine will receive guarantees along the lines of Art. 5 NATO?

According to a representative of the American administration, the North Atlantic Alliance would also undertake similar obligations towards Kiev.

We asked the Russians to agree that we could provide security guarantees to Ukraine along the lines of Article 4 and Article 5, and NATO would provide the same, the official said during a press conference call.

What Ukraine would receive would be very similar to NATO in practice, he added.

According to the Associated Press, the talks in Abu Dhabi are expected to focus on security guarantees. Ukraine and its allies are considering solutions similar to Article 5 of NATO.

Zelensky pointed out that it is crucial to determine what the reaction of Ukraine's partners will be in the event of another Russian invasion - who would provide help, by what means and at what time.

Some European countries were considering sending their soldiers to Ukraine after concluding a possible peace agreement. Russia has so far categorically rejected such a scenario and announced that it would consider foreign troops on Ukrainian territory as legal targets.

Trilateral talks with the participation of representatives of the United States, Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty provides for consultations between allies when their security, territorial integrity or political independence are threatened. Article 5, however, states that an armed attack on one NATO member is treated as an attack on all members of the Alliance.

Two parallel conversation paths

The US representative said that Washington wants to expand the current trilateral format to include additional parties and conduct talks on two tracks.

We propose that after this trilateral meeting, Europeans be included in the talks and that they be conducted along two parallel paths, each helping to solve the other, he said during a press conference before the talks scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

He added that the US goal is to move from the trilateral format to a broader multilateral format.

According to the official, the American proposal is supported by both Ukraine and European partners.

Ukraine supports it. Europeans support this. We, as mediators, also support this. We hope to convince the Russians to do so, he said.