It may be recalled that in April 2022, Russia and Ukraine negotiated Security Guarantees as part of the Istanbul Agreement, the framework for a settlement. Security Guarantees or some sort of Security Assurances from a collection of countries including Russia as a neutral Security Guarantor state in Ukraine should be protected within its territory after the war.

Moscow rejects the idea of security guarantees for Ukraine without Russia’s participation and insists on Kyiv’s neutral status, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Moscow rejects the idea of European partners excluding Russia from the mechanism of future security guarantees for Ukraine.

The Kremlin’s recalcitrant comments indicate the Trump administration’s whirlwind diplomacy has yielded little in the way of results.