In Istanbul, Ukraine offers Russia ‘neutrality’ for security guarantees

Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul said Tuesday they offered a peace proposal to their Russian counterparts that would provide Kyiv security guarantees from international partners, including the United States and Turkey, in exchange for Ukraine’s military neutrality, including a pledge not to host foreign bases or forces.

The Ukrainian delegation, speaking after five hours of talks in Istanbul brokered by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, announced no major breakthrough in the latest round of negotiations with Russia. But Moscow’s lead negotiator called the discussions “substantive,” and Turkey’s foreign minister asserted that “meaningful progress” was made. In the proposal, Ukraine would receive guarantees that the negotiators likened to Article 5 of NATO’s charter, which ensures the alliance’s collective defense.

Guarantor nations — including European countries, Canada and Israel — would provide Ukraine with military assistance and weapons if it were attacked, the negotiators said. Ukraine, in turn, would ensure it remained “nonaligned and nonnuclear,” although it would retain the right to join the European Union.

The Ukrainian delegates said any agreement would be subject to a popular referendum and that some of the thorniest issues, including the status of some Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia, would have to be worked out by the presidents of Russia and Ukraine. But Ukrainian negotiators suggested Tuesday that the day’s events had provided a possible path forward.