MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Senior Pentagon officials have been meeting their counterparts in Europe this week.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The mission is to work out security guarantees for Ukraine to help end the current war with Russia and prevent a future one. This effort comes as Russia unleashed one of its largest ever airstrikes overnight.
MARTIN: For more, we're joined by NPR's Greg Myre in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. Greg, good morning to you.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Michel.
MARTIN: To start, tell us what ideas the U.S. and European countries are kicking around.
MYRE: Yeah. President Trump asked the chairman of the Pentagon's joint chiefs, Air Force General Dan Caine, to develop plans for security guarantees for Ukraine. But any U.S. role would likely be limited to some form of air support. Trump is clear he doesn't want U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine, even as peacekeepers after the war ends. Now, General Caine is talking to European defense officials. Some European countries say they could send troops at some future point. But I really want to stress, this is all very preliminary right now.
The war is still raging. Russia carried out one of its largest ever airstrikes overnight, more than 600 drones and missiles. And President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this includes a Russian cruise missile that hit an American electronics factory. More than a dozen people were wounded. This plant, which makes civilian electronics, is in an isolated part of far western Ukraine. We're trying to get more details.
MARTIN: What's the view in Ukraine on possible security guarantees?
MYRE: Yeah, Ukrainians just aren't holding their breath. They think Russian leader Vladimir Putin wants to keep fighting. They say that any Western security promises really need to be ironclad. I spoke with Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of Parliament who heads the Foreign Affairs Committee.
OLEKSANDR MEREZHKO: I strongly continue to believe that the only solution is NATO membership for Ukraine. This would stop the war. This would stop Putin's aggression because Putin is afraid of only one thing, NATO.
MYRE: So many Ukrainians do feel this way. Ukraine was promised a path to NATO membership way back in 2008. It hasn't gone anywhere, and Trump says it's not going to happen now. Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff has talked about a guarantee that could be something like NATO's Article 5, which says an attack on one is an attack on all. But Ukraine has had these limited security promises in the past and that hasn't stopped Russia from invading. It wants something much stronger this time.
MARTIN: Any sign Russia would accept any type of Western troop presence or NATO guarantee for Ukraine?
MYRE: Russia is really a hard no on this. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated the country's position that Russia should have veto power over security guarantees for Ukraine, which would make any guarantees essentially worthless. Russia has always rejected a NATO presence in Ukraine. And that's really one of the main reasons Putin launched this war, to make sure Western troops didn't move closer to Russia's borders.
MARTIN: So given that Ukraine and Russia have these polar opposite positions, is there any way forward?
MYRE: Well, right now, it's hard to see any middle ground. Again, here's Oleksandr Merezhko, the member of Parliament.
MEREZHKO: At present moment, interests and positions, stances of Ukraine and Russia diametrically opposed. And they cannot be reconciled.
MYRE: And really, just one final note, Michel. This flurry of diplomacy is seen a little bit differently from this end. There is high interest but just lots of skepticism. They just don't see Russia, or Ukraine for that matter, hinting at any major concessions.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Greg Myre in Kyiv. Greg, thank you.
MYRE: Sure thing, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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