The United States has expressed willingness to provide intelligence resources and battlefield oversight for a Western security plan for post-war Ukraine and to participate in a European-led air defense shield, including a no-fly zone, according to a report by the Financial Times. The plan, developed by Western capitals, would include a demilitarized zone, potentially patrolled by neutral peacekeeping forces from a third country agreed upon by Kyiv and Moscow. Behind this would be a heavily fortified border defended by Ukrainian troops armed and trained by NATO. A European-led deterrent force would serve as a third line of defense.
Citing European and Ukrainian officials, the FT reports that senior U.S. officials have informed their European counterparts in numerous discussions that Washington is prepared to contribute “strategic enablers.” This support would include intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, command and control, and air defense resources to back any European-led deployment on the ground. A so-called coalition of the willing, led by the United Kingdom and France, has pledged to protect a post-war Ukraine from future Russian aggression. However, European officials have privately conceded that any deployment would be contingent on U.S. support to enable, supervise, and protect European troops.
While Washington already supplies Ukraine with Patriot air defense missiles, the post-war support package would involve U.S. aircraft, logistics, and ground-based radar to enable a European-imposed no-fly zone and air shield for Kyiv. In any peace agreement, superior U.S. capabilities in intelligence, surveillance, and command and control would facilitate satellite monitoring of a ceasefire and effective coordination of Western forces in the country.
This American offer, which emerged from a series of recent meetings between U.S. national security officials, military leaders, and their major European counterparts, is conditional on European capitals committing to deploy tens of thousands of soldiers to Ukraine, FT sources clarified. The sources added that the U.S. remains opposed to deploying its own troops in Ukraine. Other members of the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, are reportedly skeptical of any involvement in post-war guarantees, fearing it could entangle the U.S. in a future conflict.
Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s staff, confirmed the FT’s revelations, stating that each country in the coalition would contribute differently, resulting in “a mix of military, political, and economic support.” He detailed that discussions involved four or five European brigades “on the ground, provided by the coalition of the willing, plus ‘strategic enablers’ from the U.S.,” calling this “a major change from the spring.”
In related developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on social media that Russia is currently sending “negative signals” regarding meetings and further developments, emphasizing that concrete steps from Moscow are necessary for real diplomacy. Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russian and Ukrainian lead negotiators remain in contact within the “Istanbul format,” though no precise date for a meeting is set. The Kremlin reiterated its opposition to the deployment of European troops in Ukraine as part of security guarantees, stating, “We are against it,” and noting that such a move would amount to NATO military infrastructure in Ukraine, a primary cause of the conflict for Moscow.