"From the foreign office perspective, there was no good reason to be critical of Donald Trump if it risked provoking him to withdraw the painstakingly negotiated and fragile US agreement to participate in the Ukraine security guarantees. Those guarantees, the subject of military level talks for months, required US sign-up if they were to be seen as credible, viable alternative to Ukraine's Nato membership an aspiration Ukraine is being forced to abandon."
"For British officials, the US agreement to be a guarantor, symbolised by the presence of Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in Paris, was one of the great diplomatic rescue jobs, given Europe had been left flat footed and horrified when Witkoff's 28-point abandonment of Ukraine leaked back on 19 November. The US administration official that probably did most to coax Trump back to offering future protection to Ukraine, and therefore Europe, was the US secretary of state and national security adviser, Marco Rubio."
Yvette Cooper studiously avoided saying whether the UK viewed the kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro as a breach of international law. A Paris meeting of a coalition of the willing planned a joint statement with a draft promising binding US security guarantees to protect Ukraine against further Russian attacks. British foreign office officials feared criticising Donald Trump might prompt him to withdraw US participation in fragile guarantees. The guarantees required US sign-up to be credible as an alternative to Ukraine's NATO membership and to underpin a negotiated settlement acceptable to Europe and Kyiv. Marco Rubio played a leading role in securing US commitment.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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