Ukraine Weighs Trump’s Offer of Security Guarantees With Caution

Amid the setbacks for Ukraine from President Trump’s meeting in Alaska with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, officials in Kyiv found one glimmer of hope. They seized on a U.S. proposal to include security guarantees for Ukraine, designed to deter future Russian aggression, in a potential peace deal.

Mr. Trump conveyed the proposal to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in a call early Saturday after the meeting. It would enlist Kyiv’s Western partners to guarantee Ukraine’s defense against new Russian attacks, according to European leaders who participated in the call.

“The good news is that America is ready to participate in such security guarantees. It is not leaving it to the Europeans alone,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany said after the call. That marks a shift from Mr. Trump’s earlier stance of avoiding any U.S. involvement in Ukraine’s postwar security.

Mr. Merz and other European leaders were set to meet virtually on Sunday afternoon to discuss the aftermath of the Alaska summit, including potential security guarantees. In a show of support for Ukraine, the chancellor and other European officials announced that they would join Mr. Zelensky when he meets with Mr. Trump on Monday in Washington.

While the specifics of the U.S. proposal remain unclear, Mr. Trump said Mr. Putin agreed that Ukraine should have strong security guarantees after a settlement, though not under NATO, two senior European officials who were briefed on the call have said. American troops might participate, Mr. Trump told the Europeans.

Should Mr. Trump’s proposal come to fruition, it would mark a win for Ukraine, which has long sought postwar security guarantees to prevent a future Russian invasion, but has so far received little beyond vague commitments.