The United States announced on Monday that it was offering strong, NATO-style security guarantees to Ukraine and expressed confidence that Russia would accept them, which Washington said would be progress in ending the war.
U.S. officials described hours of talks in Berlin with President Volodymyr Zelensky as positive and said President Donald Trump would call both the Ukrainian leader and the Europeans later on Monday to encourage progress on the deal.
U.S. officials warned that Ukraine must also accept the agreement, which they said would provide security guarantees in accordance with Article 5 of the NATO Charter – which calls an attack on one ally an attack on all.
“The basis of that agreement is essentially to have really, really strong guarantees – like Article 5 – also a very, very strong deterrent in the size of the Ukrainian military,” the U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.
“Those guarantees are not going to be on the table forever. Those guarantees are on the table right now if a good conclusion is reached,” he said.
Trump has previously ruled out Ukraine formally joining NATO and has sided with Russia, calling Kiev’s aspirations for the alliance a reason for Moscow’s invasion in 2022.
Another U.S. official expressed confidence that Russia would support the agreement.
“I think, though, that the Ukrainians would tell you, as would the Europeans, that this is the most robust set of security protocols they’ve ever seen. It’s a very, very strong package,” the second official said.
“I hope the Russians look at it and say to themselves, ‘That’s fine because we have no intention — we’ll take their word for it — we have no intention of violating it. But the violations will be addressed by the security package,” he said.
The first official acknowledged that there was no agreement on territory. Trump called it inevitable that Ukraine would have to hand over territory to Russia, an outcome that is anathema to Zelensky after nearly four years of defending his country.
Another US official said the United States had discussed with Zelensky the idea of an “economic free zone” in the area now contested by the militaries.
“We spent a lot of time trying to define what that would mean, how it would work. And then, ultimately, if we can define that, then it will really be up to the parties to work out the final issues of sovereignty,” the official said.
The talks in Berlin were led by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s business friend and traveling global negotiator, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
