Meloni suggests NATO-style security for Ukraine without membership

Ukraine should receive NATO protection without formal membership, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on the sidelines of an EU leaders' meeting in Brussels, according to Bloomberg.

Meloni said "we need to think about more durable solutions" than deploying European peacekeeping forces to Ukraine.

She suggested expanding NATO's Article 5, the collective defense clause that obligates members to defend one another.

This is the first time the Italian prime minister has endorsed such an idea so explicitly. While Meloni is seen as a potential intermediary between Europe and U.S. President Donald Trump, Bloomberg notes that her proposal is unlikely to gain support in Washington.

Meloni said that her idea is a "different thing than entering NATO, but it implies extending the coverage that NATO countries have also to Ukraine."

• On February 12, during the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Ramstein, Germany, U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth stated that Ukraine's NATO membership is not a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement to the war and that any security guarantees should be backed by capable European and non-European forces.
• Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov responded by reaffirming Ukraine's unwavering stance on joining NATO.