"US May Lead Monitoring of 'Buffer Zone' if Ukraine War Ends"

There is analysis suggesting that if Ukraine and Russia end the war and establish a buffer zone between the two countries, the United States will play a leading role in monitoring the area.

Drone photo of the Ukrainian military. Photo by AFP Yonhap News Agency

According to major foreign media outlets such as NBC News on September 5 (local time), the United States is considering such a plan regarding security guarantees in the event of an end to the war.

The current plan being considered by European North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states is to create a 40-kilometer-wide buffer zone between Ukraine and Russia. In this scenario, the United States could be responsible for monitoring the buffer zone using drones and satellites.

In addition, there are reports that the deployment of military forces from non-NATO countries such as Saudi Arabia or Bangladesh to the buffer zone is also being considered. This comes as Russia has rejected the idea of NATO member state forces being stationed in Ukraine.

Furthermore, there is consideration of replacing collective NATO security guarantees for Ukraine with bilateral agreements between individual member states. If security guarantees are provided individually, the NATO collective defense clause would not apply, which could help ease Russia's opposition.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his opposition to any involvement of foreign troops in Ukraine on this day. He stated, "Security guarantees must be established for both Russia and Ukraine."

Ukraine has also expressed a negative stance on the establishment of a buffer zone. Previously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky opposed the creation of a buffer zone, arguing that it would mean giving up territory.

Meanwhile, the United States, led by the Department of Defense, is discussing ways to support the Ukrainian military and cooperate in the defense industry. The cooperation plan, reportedly worth 100 billion dollars (approximately 139 trillion won), is expected to include provisions for the United States to secure intellectual property rights to advanced weapons systems currently being developed by Ukraine in exchange for providing weapons to Ukraine.