U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that after the conflict ends, Ukraine has the right to conclude security agreements not only with the U.S. and European countries.
He said this in an interview with Fox News.
Rubio emphasized that any sovereign country in the world has the right to enter into defense alliances with other countries. This is not limited to NATO— the U.S. has such alliances with South Korea and Japan, and some countries also form similar agreements with each other.
“And so I think everyone would acknowledge – including, by the way, for the first time the Russian side under President Trump’s sort of pressure or suggestion – is that in fact a Ukraine post-conflict has a right to enter into security agreements with other countries,” Rubio said.
He noted that the U.S. is currently coordinating with its European and non-European allies to create such security guarantees.
“And we will work with our European allies, and non-European countries by the way, to build such a security guarantee. We’re working on that right now. We’ll continue to work on that. And that will be something that will have to be in place after a peace deal so that Ukraine can feel safe moving forward,” the Secretary of State added.
Rubio stressed that the strongest security guarantee for Ukraine is a powerful army.
"The strongest security guarantee they can come up with with their future is to have a strong military moving forward, and that’s the other dynamic that’s changed. We’re no longer giving Ukraine weapons. We’re no longer giving Ukraine money. We are now selling them weapons, and European countries are paying for it through NATO. They are using NATO to buy the weapons and transfer them to Ukraine," the Secretary of State added.
He also noted that the U.S. no longer provides weapons to Ukraine for free—European countries now help purchase and deliver them through NATO.
