The ‘security guarantee’ paradox: Too weak and it won’t protect Ukraine; too robust and Russia won’t accept it

Ukraine is seeking security guarantees to protect itself from Russian attacks. Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP via Getty Images

Back-to-back summits in Alaska and Washington with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, respectively, have done little to clarify how U.S. President Donald Trump intends to engineer an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

Beyond vague exhortations of “land for peace,” it was unclear what exactly Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to in Anchorage on Aug. 15, 2025. Whatever it was, Trump’s follow-up meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders days later in the White House came up with a completely different agenda: peace in return for security guarantees from the Western powers.