The main problem of the negotiations is the different views of Ukraine and Russia on security guarantees – columnist for The Times

One of the ideas for resolving the war is the deployment of Ukraine’s main forces in Europe, with a reduced army within Ukraine itself.

This was written by The Times columnist Mark Urban.

He sees the main issue in the upcoming peace negotiations as the differing views between Kyiv and Moscow on future security guarantees to prevent the conflict from recurring.

“Putin will try to insist that Ukraine maintain a small army and limit its connections with NATO forces,” writes Urban.

In this context, he notes that “various ideas” are circulating in the West on how to implement this condition.

One such idea is “allowing a large number of Ukrainian troops to be based in NATO countries so that they, strictly speaking, are not part of the deployed forces of their own country.” Another idea is the placement of Western weapons in Ukraine for the emergency deployment of Western forces in case the war resumes.

It is also worth noting that in his victory plan, President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed replacing American forces in Europe with Ukrainian troops.

At the same time, Urban believes that Russia’s condition of not accepting Ukraine into NATO is “easy” to fulfill.

“When Putin and other Kremlin officials talk about preventing Ukraine from joining NATO, it is easy because it is not seriously on the agenda,” the author writes.

Earlier, media outlets reported that U.S. President Joe Biden had planned, after Donald Trump’s victory, to announce an invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, but later abandoned the idea.