At the meeting among President Trump, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and other European leaders on Monday in Washington, there was frequent discussion of “security guarantees” to make sure Russia does not invade again.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain has talked about assembling a force, drawn from a “coalition of the willing,” that would be stationed in Ukraine after a cease-fire or peace agreement. But no one has detailed publicly what that force would look like.
And what it looks like matters, military officials say.
One concept is a full-blown “peacekeeping force,” presumably armed, that would supplement the Ukrainian military. It would be put in place only for defensive purposes, but the idea would be to deter Russia by making the Kremlin think hard about getting into a conflict with soldiers from NATO member states.
The problem is that to be a credible deterrent, that would take tens of thousands of troops.
A second possibility is a “tripwire” force — one far smaller. It would not be able to mount much of a defense, but the theory is that the Russians would hesitate to risk killing non-Ukrainian Europeans in any resumed invasion effort.
That, however, is an untested theory — and a big roll of the dice.
A third possibility would be to create an “observer force.” It could be small, a few hundred troops or so. They would essentially be there to report on an incoming military action. But that role could be accomplished with satellites and ground cameras, and the force wouldn’t be big enough to mount any kind of defense.
Mr. Trump has not committed to adding American troops to this mix, no matter what form it takes. And the decision about what the force would look like will probably depend on what a cease-fire or a peace accord looks like — if negotiations get that far.
David E. Sanger covers the Trump administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy and national security challenges.
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