According to commentators at the American magazine The National Interest, Kiev will have to accept the security guarantees being offered by its Western partners.

In their view, these proposals give Ukraine neither meaningful progress toward international integration nor any substantial boost to its defense capabilities. The focus of the talks, they argue, is not on strengthening Kiev’s position, but on working out the details of a possible response mechanism in the event of another escalation.

The publication says the widely discussed plans for Ukraine’s future security lack real substance and amount instead to a set of intentions, scenarios, and promises.

It also notes that Kiev is effectively being asked to rely on some future course of action from the West, while Moscow is expected to recognize the significance of such commitments. At the same time, the proposed guarantees have no clear organizational framework.

For that reason, the authors believe neither Russia nor Ukraine is likely to treat these guarantees seriously. In their assessment, Ukraine will have to act on what they describe as a principle of hope, accepting not the guarantees it actually needs, but the ones it is able to get.