First, Vladimir Putin went to Alaska
>> and then Vladimir Zalinski went to the
White House flanked by European allies.
>> But now the diplomatic dust has settled.
How much has actually changed since
those summits?
>> And is peace really any closer?
>> Mr. Putin, will you agree to a
ceasefire?
>> Mr. Putin, will you commit to not
killing any more civilians? The big
thing that came out of Alaska was an
apparent breakthrough on this issue of
future security guarantees for Ukraine.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff claimed
that Moscow had given the green light to
a NATO style mutual defense mandate.
That was music to Europe's ears where
many countries have been scrambling to
boost their militaries as a direct
result of Russian aggression and arms
companies like this one have been
ramping up production. It's going to be
fantastic. Actually,
>> Q relief in Washington when America said
it would back them up.
>> Uh they are first line of defense
because they're there. They're Europe,
but we're going to help them out also.
We'll be involved.
>> But it's still not clear what those
security guarantees will look like. Will
there be European boots on the ground?
If so, whose boots and how many?
>> Mr. historious. What security guarantees
is Germany actually putting on the table
to help Ukraine?
>> We can do of course we consider every
contribution we might be able and
willing to deliver to provide for
security guarantees for Ukraine but we
don't discuss that now publicly.
Obviously Germany is the biggest
supporter of Ukraine after the US and
our role will become even more important
in the month and years to come. The
first layer for Ukraine to defend itself
will be the Ukrainian armed forces. That
is the base. That is the first layer.
That will be extremely important. NATO
is involved there. Many NATO allies are
involved there building Ukrainian armed
forces going forward after a long-term
ceasefire/ hopefully even better than
peace deal.
>> More importantly, it increasingly sounds
like Russia hasn't actually agreed to
this plan after all. Because over the
last week, Moscow has repeatedly made it
clear it has problems with it,
especially if it involves European
troops.
And that's not all. The only security
guarantee Moscow says it'll accept is
one it's involved in, where Ukraine's
invader becomes its protector and
guarantor.
So what about this meeting between
Zilinski and Putin. Well, that doesn't
seem any closer either. Last week,
Donald Trump said the two sides were
setting it up.
>> But that's not how it sounds here in
Moscow, where the Kremlin's been
repeating its usual line that these
things can't be rushed.
>> Putin is ready to meet with Zilinski
when the agenda would be ready for for a
summit. And this agenda is not ready at
all. How can we meet with a person who
is pretending to be a leader?
>> The issue here is that the Kremlin
doesn't view Zilinski as a legitimate
leader and it's hinted that he'd need to
be reelected before there's any meeting
and before any peace deal can be signed.
>> While few in Europe believe Russia is
serious about peace.
>> So despite that flurry of diplomatic
activity, it's pretty clear that
fundamental stumbling blocks remain.
There's still no agreement on security
guarantees, still no plans for a leader
meeting, and the war rages on.