By Amar Singh Bhandal

The latest round of talks on a ceasefire to end the Ukraine war have yet to produce a tolerable agreement that would guarantee Ukraine’s sovereignty and security against future Russian aggression.

While the eventual ceasefire negotiated by President Trump is likely to be painful and imperfect for Ukraine, requiring the cessation of territory in the East, the crucial determiner of success is whether security guarantees for Kyiv are solid promises, backed up with force, rather than fluff.

Whether this becomes a lasting peace or a dangerous appeasement depends on Europe, not Washington.

In the next few weeks, a ceasefire is likely to be agreed that halts the fighting in Ukraine, where almost four years of war has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives. In ten years, will we look back on this juncture as the moment peace was finally secured, or as the moment the West fatally blinked?

Despite the momentum of President Trump’s assertive second-term foreign policy, it will be Europe, not the United States, that determines whether this ceasefire will restrain Russian aggression.

The security guarantees needed to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty will not come from a US-led NATO framework, however often that goal has been asserted.

They will have to come from within Europe itself. A European coalition of the willing must be........

© LBC