NATO defense chiefs to hold meeting on security guarantees for Ukraine

BRUSSELS — NATO defense chiefs were due to hold a virtual meeting Wednesday, a senior alliance official said, as Western countries pushing for an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine devise possible future security guarantees for Kyiv that could help forge a peace agreement.

Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of NATO’s Military Committee, said that 32 defense chiefs from across the alliance would hold a video conference amid a U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the fighting.

U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe, will take part in the talks, Dragone said on social platform X. U.S. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was also set to participate, a U.S. defense official said.

Caine also met with European military chiefs Tuesday evening in Washington to assess the best military options for political leaders, according to the defense official, who wasn’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chided efforts to work on security arrangements in Ukraine without Moscow’s involvement.

“We cannot agree with the fact that it is now proposed to resolve collective security issues without the Russian Federation. This will not work,” Lavrov said Wednesday, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

Russia will “ensure (its) legitimate interests firmly and harshly,” Lavrov added at a news conference in Moscow with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi.

Defense chiefs work on details of a Ukraine security force

U.S. President Donald Trump met last Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and on Monday hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and prominent European leaders at the White House. Neither meeting delivered concrete progress.

Trump is trying to steer Putin and Zelenskyy toward a settlement more than three years after Russia invaded its neighbor, but there are major obstacles. They include Ukraine’s demands for Western-backed military assurances to ensure Russia won’t mount another invasion in the coming years.

“We need strong security guarantees to ensure a truly secure and lasting peace,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post Wednesday after Russian missile and drone strikes hit six regions of Ukraine overnight.

Kyiv’s European allies are looking to set up a force that could backstop any peace agreement, and a coalition of 30 countries, including European nations, Japan and Australia, has signed up to support the initiative.

Military chiefs are figuring out how that security force might work. The role that the U.S. might play is unclear. Trump on Tuesday ruled out sending U.S. troops to help defend Ukraine against Russia.

Russia has repeatedly said that it would not accept NATO troops in Ukraine.

Attacks on civilian areas in Sumy and Odesa overnight into Wednesday injured 15 people, including a family with three small children, Ukrainian authorities said. Russian strikes also targeted ports and fuel and energy infrastructure, officials said.

Zelenskyy said the strikes “only confirm the need for pressure on Moscow, the need to introduce new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy works to its full potential.”

Switzerland could host a Putin-Zelenskyy summit

Trump said Monday he has begun arrangements for a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, although the Kremlin hasn’t publicly confirmed such a possibility and no venue was suggested.

Lavrov, in his Moscow press conference, said Russia is prepared to continue negotiations with Ukraine in any format.

He said Putin proposed to Trump raising the level of representation in delegations that recently took part in largely fruitless direct talks in Istanbul. He added that “a separate block (of talks) should be devoted to examining the political aspects of the settlement, along with the military and humanitarian ones.”

Ukraine and Western leaders have accused Putin of dragging out peace negotiations in the hope of capturing more land before any settlement.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said the summit could happen in Europe and proposed the Swiss city of Geneva. Switzerland has expressed its willingness to act as host.

Putin’s ability to travel abroad is limited because he is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on a warrant dating back to March 2023 for alleged involvement in the abduction of Ukrainian children. More than 100 countries are ICC signatories and have a legal obligation to arrest the Russian leader on their soil.

Switzerland intends to ask the ICC to exempt it from sanctions in order to allow Putin in for a summit, according to a senior official in The Hague with direct knowledge of the request. The official was not authorized to speak about the proceedings and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Molly Quell contributed from The Hague and Mike Pesoli from Washington.

布鲁塞尔——一位北约高级官员表示，北约国防部长将于周三举行视频会议，西方国家正努力推动结束俄罗斯对乌克兰的战争，并制定可能的未来安全保障措施，以帮助基辅达成和平协议。

北约军事委员会主席、意大利海军上将朱塞佩·卡沃·德拉戈内表示，在以美国为首的旨在结束战斗的外交努力下，来自北约32个国家的国防部长将举行视频会议。

德拉戈内通过社交平台XUS表示，北约欧洲盟军最高司令、美国将军亚历克西斯·格林克维奇将参加会谈；一位美国国防官员表示，参谋长联席会议主席丹·凯恩将军也将参加会谈。

据一位不愿透露姓名的国防官员称，凯恩周二晚上还在华盛顿会见了欧洲军方首脑，以评估最适合政治领导人的军事方案。这位官员没有被授权公开评论此事。

俄罗斯外交部长谢尔盖·拉夫罗夫斥责了在没有莫斯科参与的情况下试图在乌克兰制定安全安排的努力。

据俄罗斯国家通讯社俄新社报道，拉夫罗夫周三表示：“我们不能同意现在提出的在没有俄罗斯联邦参与的情况下解决集体安全问题的做法。这行不通。”

拉夫罗夫在莫斯科与约旦外交大臣艾曼·萨法迪举行的新闻发布会上补充说，俄罗斯将“坚定而强硬地维护（其）合法利益”。

国防部长们正在商讨乌克兰安全部队的细节。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普上周五在阿拉斯加会见了俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京，周一又在白宫接待了乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基和多位欧洲领导人。这两次会晤均未取得实质性进展。

在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰三年多后，特朗普试图引导普京和泽连斯基达成和解，但面临诸多障碍。其中包括乌克兰要求西方支持的军事保证，以确保俄罗斯在未来几年内不会再次入侵。

泽连斯基周三在 Telegram 上发帖称：“我们需要强有力的安全保障，以确保真正安全持久的和平。”此前，俄罗斯导弹和无人机连夜袭击了乌克兰的六个地区。

基辅的欧洲盟友正寻求建立一支能够支持任何和平协议的部队，包括欧洲国家、日本和澳大利亚在内的30个国家组成的联盟已签署协议支持该倡议。

军方高层正在研究这支安全部队的运作方式。美国可能扮演的角色尚不明确。特朗普周二排除了派遣美军帮助乌克兰抵御俄罗斯的可能性。

俄罗斯曾多次表示不会接受北约军队进驻乌克兰。

乌克兰当局称，周三凌晨至凌晨，苏梅和敖德萨的平民区遭到袭击，造成15人受伤，其中包括一个有三个幼童的家庭。官员表示，俄罗斯的袭击还针对港口、燃料和能源基础设施。

泽连斯基表示，这些袭击“只会证实有必要对莫斯科施压，有必要出台新的制裁和关税措施，直到外交手段发挥其全部潜力为止。”

瑞士或将主办普京-泽连斯基峰会

特朗普周一表示，他已开始安排普京和泽连斯基的面对面会晤，尽管克里姆林宫尚未公开证实这种可能性，也没有提出任何地点建议。

拉夫罗夫在莫斯科举行的新闻发布会上表示，俄罗斯准备以任何形式继续与乌克兰进行谈判。

他说，普京向特朗普提议提高近期在伊斯坦布尔举行的、基本没有取得任何成果的直接会谈中，代表团的代表级别。他还补充说，“应该专门设立一个会谈环节，讨论解决方案的政治层面，以及军事和人道主义层面。”

乌克兰和西方领导人指责普京拖延和平谈判，希望在任何协议达成之前夺取更多土地。

法国总统马克龙表示，峰会可能在欧洲举行，并提议瑞士日内瓦作为举办地。瑞士已表示愿意承办此次峰会。

由于普京涉嫌参与绑架乌克兰儿童，海牙国际刑事法院已于2023年3月对其发出逮捕令，因此普京的出国旅行受到限制。超过100个国家是国际刑事法院的缔约国，并有法律义务在其境内逮捕这位俄罗斯领导人。

据一位直接了解此事的海牙高级官员透露，瑞士计划请求国际刑事法院豁免其受到的制裁，以便普京能够赴瑞士举行峰会。这位官员未被授权谈论此事，因此要求匿名。

诺维科夫从乌克兰基辅报道。莫莉·奎尔从海牙报道，迈克·佩索利从华盛顿报道。