U.S. officials said the first day of talks would focus on security guarantees for Ukraine and the possible reshaping of Europe’s security architecture. Day 2 would examine territorial issues (where borders and boundaries should be drawn) and other issues. European governments fear that Trump is preparing to accept Putin’s long-standing demands to roll back NATO influence in the region. But U.S. officials insisted that NATO would remain critical to Europe’s collective defense, while refusing to back down on the need for a fundamental rethinking of the continent’s relations with Russia. “Obviously something is not working,” the same official said. The Europeans have “a lot of baggage” about the need to redesign the security architecture because Russia had proposed several changes in the past and previous agreements had failed, the official said. “We have to build something new that works today.” The officials said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had been closely involved in discussions with the U.S. administration and sharing ideas for reforms. On the most difficult issue of all for Ukraine – the fate of Russian-occupied territory – both sides have shown “flexibility” in private, the officials said. The goal of this week’s talks is to maintain the momentum of recent weeks, rather than achieve a final ceasefire, they added. But the two main tracks of the talks – territory and future security arrangements for Ukraine and Europe – must work together and be resolved together, the US side said. Additional reporting by Scott Waldman.
