A large number of European leaders held a telephone conference on the development in the war in Ukraine on Sunday. With force, Europe's continued support for Ukraine was emphasized, but question marks surrounded the meeting.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that Europe must get answers from Donald Trump about what the US security guarantees mean in practice.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who was visiting Brussels, had then posed the same question at a joint press conference with the Chairman of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Forces on the ground
Zelenskyj wanted to know more exactly what the security guarantees mean: Will there be forces on the ground and will Ukraine receive direct protection from other countries in the airspace?
We must get answers to these questions to understand what the security guarantees mean.
The EU leader had then thanked Trump for his promises of NATO-like security guarantees for Ukraine.
We welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute with Article 5 security guarantees for Ukraine, and the coalition of the willing – including the EU – is ready to share (the responsibility), said von der Leyen.
In the afternoon, the digital meeting was then held as a preparation for the talks with Trump at the White House on Monday. Zelenskyj will be accompanied by Macron, the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as well as the Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
Territorial integrity
The message to Trump was clear and formulated by von der Leyen, who is also traveling to Washington DC: Ukraine must be able to retain the country's "territorial integrity".
The Chairman of the EU Commission again emphasized that any type of negotiation about Ukraine's future must include representatives of the country – and that such negotiations will begin "as soon as possible".
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (The Moderate Party), who participated in Sunday's meeting, said in a statement that "Sweden will continue our support for Ukraine and actively participate in the discussions on how security guarantees can be designed".
Facts: NATO's Article 5
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The core of the military alliance NATO is the so-called Article 5, which states that an attack on a NATO country is an attack on the entire alliance and that all members are obliged to help the country.
Article 5 has, however, only been used once so far in NATO history: when the USA asked for help immediately after the terrorist attacks on the US east coast on September 11, 2001.
