WASHINGTON, January 28. /TASS/. The security guarantees for Kiev that are currently under discussion involve the deployment of British and French troops to Ukraine and "a US backdrop," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he emphasized the need 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, but those security guarantees basically involve the deployment of a handful of European troops, primarily French and the UK, and then a US backstop," Rubio pointed out.
"I'm not diminishing the fact that some countries in Europe are willing to place troops in a post-war Ukraine. What I'm pointing out is that it is irrelevant without the US backstop, and the reason why you need such a strong US backstop is because our allies and our partners have not invested enough in their own defense capabilities over the last 20 or 30 years. Now, hopefully that's going to change. Hopefully that is changing, and in some cases, and in some particular countries, it's already changed," he added.