President Donald Trump, center, walks in the Cross Hall with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, followed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, at the White House, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, a Russian T-80BVM tank fires towards Ukrainian positions in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, a soldier launches reconnaissance drone in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
President Donald Trump, center, walks in the Cross Hall with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, followed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, at the White House, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
NATO defense chiefs were due to hold a virtual meeting Wednesday, a senior alliance official said, as countries pushing for an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine devise possible future security guarantees for Kyiv that could help forge a peace agreement.
Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of NATO’s Military Committee, said that 32 defense chiefs from across the alliance would hold a video conference as a seeks to end the fighting.
U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe, will take part in the talks, Dragone said on social platform X.
U.S. President Donald Trump met last Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and on Monday hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and prominent European leaders . Neither meeting delivered concrete progress.
Trump is trying to steer Putin and Zelenskyy toward a settlement more than three years after Russia invaded its neighbor, but there are . They include Ukraine’s demands for Western-backed military assurances to ensure Russia won’t mount another invasion in coming years.
“We need strong security guarantees to ensure a truly secure and lasting peace,†Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post Wednesday after Russian missile and drone strikes hit six regions of Ukraine overnight.
Kyiv’s European allies are that could backstop any peace agreement, and a , including European nations, Japan and Australia, have signed up to support the initiative.
Military chiefs are figuring out how that security force might work. The role that the U.S. might play in is unclear. Trump on Tuesday sending U.S. troops to help defend Ukraine against Russia.
Russia has repeatedly said that it would not accept NATO troops in Ukraine.
Attacks on civilian areas in Sumy and Odesa overnight into Wednesday injured 15 people, including a family with three small children, Ukrainian authorities said.
Zelenskyy said the strikes “only confirm the need for pressure on Moscow, the need to introduce new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy works to its full potential.â€
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