PARIS, Jan 6 (Reuters) – The United States and European nations on Tuesday closed in on a set of legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine designed to shield it from further Russian aggression once an eventual peace deal is brokered.
Here are key comments made after a meeting in Paris:
STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY
“The president strongly stands behind security protocols. Those security protocols are meant to a) deter any attacks, any further attacks in Ukraine, and b) if there are any attacks, they’re meant to defend, and they will do both.
“They are as strong as anyone has ever seen. Everyone on this panel on this stage up here has acknowledged that.”
“We think we’re largely finished with security protocols, which are important so that the people of Ukraine know that when this ends, it ends forever.
“But we also think, critically, that we are very, very close to finishing up as robust a prosperity agreement as any country has ever seen coming out of conflicts like this.”
JARED KUSHNER, U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S SON-IN-LAW
“I think today was a very, very big milestone.”
“This does not mean that we will make peace, but peace would not be possible without the progress that was made here today…
“If Ukraine is going to make a final deal, they have to know that after a deal they are secure, they have, obviously, a robust deterrence, and there’s real backstops to make sure that this will not happen again.”
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER
The signing of the declaration “paves the way for the legal framework under which British, French and partner forces could operate on Ukrainian soil, securing Ukraine’s skies and seas and regenerating Ukraine’s armed forces for the future.
“I can say that following the ceasefire, the UK and France will establish military hubs across Ukraine and build protected facilities for weapons and military equipment to support Ukraine’s defensive needs.
FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR
“Every partner in the coalition must, under its own domestic procedures, decide in due course what contribution it will make… Germany will continue to contribute politically, financially, and militarily.”
“On the type and scope of a German contribution, the government and the German Bundestag must and will decide once the conditions (of the ceasefire) are clarified.”
That could include, for example, after a ceasefire, deploying forces for Ukraine on neighboring NATO territory.
“We basically rule nothing out.”
(Editing by Richard Lough)
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