Putin agrees that US, EU could offer NATO-style security guarantees to Ukraine, Trump envoy says
President Donald Trump listens to Vladimir Putin (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
Special US envoy Steve Witkoff said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the US and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling Nato’s collective defence mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the war.
“We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in Nato,” he said on CNN’s .
Mr Witkoff said it was the first time he had heard Mr Putin agree to that.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that “we welcome President Trump’s willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine, and the ‘Coalition of the willing’ – including the European Union – is ready to do its share”.
Mr Witkoff, offering some of the first details of what was discussed at Friday’s summit in Alaska, said the two sides agreed to “robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing”.
He added that Russia said that it would make a legislative commitment not to go after any additional territory in Ukraine.
Mr Zelenskyy thanked the United States for recent signals that Washington is willing to support security guarantees for Ukraine, but said the details remained unclear.
“It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine,” he said.
“But there are no details how it will work, and what America’s role will be, Europe’s role will be and what the EU can do, and this is our main task, we need security to work in practice like Article 5 of Nato, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security guarantees.”
Mr Witkoff defended Mr Trump’s decision to abandon his push for Russia to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying the president had pivoted toward a peace deal because so much progress was made.
“We began to see some moderation in the way they’re thinking about getting to a final peace deal,” he said.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said there would be “additional consequences” as Mr Trump warned before meeting Mr Putin, if they failed to reach a ceasefire. But Mr Rubio said there was not going to be any sort of deal on a truce reached when Ukraine was not at the talks.
“Now, ultimately, if there isn’t a peace agreement, if there isn’t an end of this war, the president’s been clear, there are going to be consequences,” Mr Rubio said on .
“But we’re trying to avoid that. And the way we’re trying to avoid those consequences is with an even better consequence, which is peace, the end of hostilities.”
Mr Rubio, who is also Mr Trump’s national security adviser, said he did not believe issuing new sanctions on Russia would force Mr Putin to accept a ceasefire, noting that the latter was not off the table but that “the best way to end this conflict is through a full peace deal”.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that Ukraine's future must be decided by itself.
Mr Martin attended a leaders’ meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in support of Ukraine today online which had been convened by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer and Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz.
Speaking after the meeting, the Taoiseach said that he welcomes the initiative by President Trump to "seek the ending of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine"but that it is "essential that Ukraine is a full participant in any discussions regarding its future".
"It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.
“I fully agree that Ukraine needs strong, credible, long-term security guarantees. This will mean sustained support from Europe, the United States and other partners. Ireland stands ready to play our part."
Mr Martin said that Russia "cannot have a veto on Ukraine’s path towards EU membership" and that Ireland will continue to "strongly support" Ukraine’s EU membership ambitions.
“The human dimension and accountability must also be at the centre of a just and lasting peace for Ukraine. Russia must urgently return Ukrainian children who they have abducted as well as prisoners of war and civilians being held unlawfully.
“I assured President Zelenskyy again today that Ireland will continue to steadfastly support Ukraine.”
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