Speaker 2 (unidentified questioner) asked whether a humanitarian plan under discussion "only make[s] sense if it includes a provision that says the Americans are willing to provide security guarantees similar to Article 5." The question framed the humanitarian proposal as conditional on U.S. security assurances.

Speaker 1 declined to discuss particulars of any provision, saying the talks are an ongoing process and that he would not get into details that could change as the text evolves. He said, however, that any end to the war would require Ukraine to ‘‘feel as it is safe and it is never gonna be invaded or attacked again’’ and that negotiators had made substantial progress on related points without confirming specific guarantees.

The exchange left the security-guarantee question unresolved in the briefing. Speaker 1 emphasized continued technical work, further consultations and that any formal commitments would need higher-level review before being characterized as final.