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Germany has told Ukraine that it is willing to be one of its named protectors in a proposed treaty to end the war with Russia.
The offer in principle by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went further than more cautious public statements by the US and Britain, also named by Ukraine as potential security guarantors.
The tentative peace efforts came as Russia appeared to back down from an energy stand-off on Thursday, with President Vladimir Putin signing a decree that indicated oil and gas imports could still be paid for in euros.
Mr Scholz and his Italian counterpart Mario Draghi said they had received assurances from Mr Putin that an earlier demand to raise the money in roubles could be met by transferring dollars or euros into a Russian bank account.
The initial demand had been regarded by western powers as an attempt to work around sanctions imposed on Russia over the five-week-old war in Ukraine.
Diplomats reported some progress in peace talks this week in Turkey, at which Ukraine offered to drop its membership bid for Nato, a Russian demand, in exchange for guarantees from named countries to defend it from aggression.
Ukraine sees such assurances as mirroring Nato’s Article 5 mutual defence clause and named the UK, US, France, China, Germany, Turkey, Canada, Poland and Israel among potential guarantors.
Mr Zelenskyy has asked Mr Scholz directly for Germany’s involvement and the chancellor responded by “signalling a general willingness” to take part in such a treaty, his spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.
“We would have to look at exactly how it’s formulated but Germany, like many other countries, is certainly ready to act as a security guarantor,” he said.
He said further details, such as whether any assistance from guarantors would be military or economic, would have to be thrashed out in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
Ukraine’s proposal is that the guarantors must hold three days of consultations after any attack on the country, after which they would be legally obliged to provide military assistance, for example by supplying weapons.
Nato has been unwilling to intervene directly in the current conflict for fear that engaging Russian troops face-to-face would lead to a wider East-West war.
In Britain, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said the government would consider any request from Mr Zelenskyy but played down the prospect of matching Article 5 in a treaty.
“It would depend on what precisely is involved,” Mr Raab told the BBC. “We are not going to, I think, replicate unilaterally the Nato commitments that apply to Nato members.”
In the US, White House spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said Washington was in constant discussion with Ukraine about ways to ensure its security but declined to comment on whether American troops could offer any guarantees.
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A Ukrainian soldier fires his rifle from a trench at the front east of Kharkiv in the north of Ukraine, which continues to be shelled by Russian forces. AFP -
A gas station on fire in Kharkiv after Russian ttack on the northern city. AFP -
A medieval suit of armour 'stands guard' at a a Ukrainian checkpoint, on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv. AP Photo -
Ukrainian refugees wait in line to cross the border into Poland at Shehyni. Reuters -
Destroyed Russian armoured vehicles on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP Photo -
A resident passes apartment buildings destroyed by Russian attacks in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters -
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, standing, welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to address the House of Representatives via video link at Parliament House in Canberra. Mr Zelenskyy appealed directly to Australian legislators for more help in the war against Russia, including armoured vehicles and tougher sanctions. AP -
Fire lights up the sky east of Kharkiv, where Ukrainian forces pushed back Russian troops from a motorway outside the country's second-largest city. AFP -
A destroyed Russian tank in the village of Lukianivka near Kyiv. AFP -
Passengers arriving from Moscow at Manas International Airport, Bishkek, Kyrgyrzstan. Hundreds of thousands of citizens of former Soviet countries in Central Asia are facing difficult choices: shrinking work opportunities in Russia and wages in the weakened rouble versus a return to the homeland where they have family homes, but even fewer job prospects. AFP -
Fire and smoke light up the sky east of Kharkiv as Ukrainian forces push back Russian troops from a motorway outside the country's second-largest city. AFP -
A Ukrainian soldier shoots at the Russian positions not far from the capital Kyiv. EPA -
A car marked with the English letter 'Z' is found destroyed at the central Ukrainian train station that was used as a Russian base in Trostyanets. Ukrainian forces said they had retaken the north-eastern town from the Russians. Getty Images -
Rescue workers at the site of the regional administration building hit by Russian cruise missiles, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A dog looks at cars passing by on the road near a house painted with the colors of the Ukrainian flag, on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv. AP Photo -
A soldier poses for the picture in Kyiv, Ukraine, while standing guard amid the destruction caused after shelling of a shopping center. AP Photo -
A Ukrainian serviceman stands near a destroyed Russian tank in the north-eastern city of Trostianets. AFP -
A worker pushes a cart past graves of Ukrainian soldiers who were killed in battle during Russia’s attack on Ukraine, at the Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv. Reuters -
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows damaged apartment buildings and homes in Mariupol. AP -
A resident takes photos of a destroyed Russian tank next to the railway station where the Russian forces were stationed, in Trostyanets, a town recaptured by the Ukrainian army. EPA -
A rescuer clears the rubble of a warehouse containing more than 50,000 tons of deep-frozen food in the town of Brovary, north of Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, after it was destroyed by Russian shelling. AFP -
A Ukrainian army vehicle carries a Russian tank in Trostyanets. AFP -
Ukrainian soldiers carry a coffin during the funeral ceremony of a comrade in Odesa. EPA -
A man walks with his dog near an apartment building damaged by shelling from fighting on the outskirts of Mariupol. AP Photo -
Members of the Danish Parliament attend the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky's speech to the Danish Parliament via a video link, at the Christiansborg Castle in Copenhagen, Denmark. EPA -
A satellite image shows crowds outside a Metro grocery store in Mariupol. Reuters -
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opens Ukrainian-Russian talks in Istanbul. President Erdogan told the delegations that "both parties have legitimate concerns." AFP -
Members of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps fire a howitzer at a position in the Zaporizhzhia region. Reuters -
Ukrainian refugees are helped by volunteers upon their arrival at Amsterdam Central station by train from Berlin. AFP -
Ukrainian soldiers ride an armoured people carrier through the town of Trostsyanets, about 400 kilometres east of Kyiv. AP Photo -
Firefighters work amid the debris of residential houses that were destroyed by Russian shelling in a settlement outside Kharkiv. Reuters -
President Joe Biden said that he is not advocating for regime change in Moscow after saying Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power." AP Photo -
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a warehouse after it was hit by Russian shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. More than half of Kharkiv's 1.4 million people have fled the city since Russia's invasion on February 24. Getty Images -
Local residents pass by a destroyed Russian tank in the town of Trostyanets, east of capital Kyiv, Ukraine. The monument to the Second World War is seen in background. AP Photo -
A pro-Russian troop service member walks near a destroyed apartment building in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol. Reuters -
Mykhaylo, 8, who was taken away from his widowed mother along with his 9-year-old brother and 16-year-old sister, plays with a ball in the garden of a state shelter in Lviv. Reuters -
Halyna Falko, 52, talks to reporters while looking at the destruction caused after a Russian attack inside her house near Brovary, on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP Photo -
Curtains flutter in the wind at a building that was damaged by shelling in a neighbourhood that has been largely abandoned and left without water, gas and heating, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
People, mainly women and children, arrive at Przemysl on a train from Odesa in war-torn Ukraine in Przemysl, Poland. The Polish government has said it may spend €24 billion this year hosting refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine, and is seeking more support from the European Union. Getty Images -
A woman walks a dog past the so-called "people's installation to a Russian soldier" nicknamed the "polite people" created by residents in the backyard of their apartment building in the town of Podolsk, outside Moscow. AFP
Ukraine said Italy had expressed interest in being part of such a treaty after what it described as preliminary discussions with guarantor countries at the level of political advisers.
The Russian invasion has shown that “the old formats of European or even global security do not work”, said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in Mr Zelenskyy’s office.
Russia, for its part, said Ukraine’s proposed neutrality would meet its demands but said issues including the future of annexed Crimea and the disputed Donbas region remained unresolved.
Western powers reacted sceptically to Moscow’s announcement this week that it was scaling back military operations near Kyiv, amid uncertainty over whether Russia was really de-escalating or merely regrouping its forces.
But western leaders came away from Mr Putin confident that gas contracts could still be paid in euros after Russia's initial request for roubles threatened to exacerbate Europe's energy crisis.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also played down the scope of the changes, saying that "de facto, for those who receive Russian gas, who pay for the deliveries, there is in fact no change".
