For perspective on the challenges of providing a security guarantee to Ukraine, we turn to James Townsend.

He had a decades-long career focusing on Europe, including as Deputy Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO policy during the Obama administration.

He's now a senior advisor at the Atlantic Council.

James Townsend, welcome to the News Hour. Thanks for joining us.

It's great to be here. Thank you. So militaries, as you will know, can be used for offense and for

defense. How can a security force or guarantee be put together that simultaneously provides security

to Ukraine, but also doesn't provide Russia with the pretext that it's threatening Russia in any way.

Well, the goal of this coalition of the willing and this security guarantee is to deter Russia.

It's not to threaten Russia.

So the kinds of equipment that this military force could have would not be something that would be seen as good for the

offense. This is something that's going to be instead something that is involving air defense,

it's involving some anti-tank weapons, that kind of thing, so that it can't be mistaken as a threat to

Russia. We've already heard from Sergei Lavrov of Russia that this idea won't move forward without

Russian involvement or Chinese involvement. If you are Vladimir Putin, why would you agree to any

of this right now? Well, he is truly looking on this as something that will stop him from taking further advantage

of Ukraine down the road, that's for sure. And so he places a high price on having a neutral

Ukraine and a Ukraine with a small military force. But if he wants something bad enough, if he wants

a bigger piece of Ukraine or other kinds of concessions from Ukraine or from the West,

then he'll give in to this, maybe a reduced version of a security guarantee or a force that

looks a little bit different. But if he really want something else,

the price that he'll have to pay is having this security force there. So in terms of what he might

agree to, what would work for Ukraine, what the NATO nations can provide, as Nick reported,

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