The United States has offered to provide kyiv with NATO-style security guarantees, as American and European negotiators on Monday reported progress in negotiations to end the war with Russia, but a deal on territorial concessions remained elusive.
Sent by US President Donald Trump, they made the unprecedented offer during talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Berlin, US officials said, while warning that such a deal would not be on the table forever.
The talks in the German capital have sparked optimism among European leaders about how to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. However, Moscow has not yet accepted any of the changes discussed in Germany and has shown no desire to do so.
“We’re trying to get it done,” Trump said of a deal to end the war, speaking from the White House after participating by telephone in a senior officials’ dinner in Berlin. “We’ve had several conversations with Russian President Putin, and I think we’re closer than ever and we’ll see what we can do,” Trump added.
European leaders have cautiously greeted the Trump administration’s apparent shift in security guarantees for Ukraine.
“For the first time since the start of the war, the possibility of a ceasefire is possible,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who hosted the meetings, said in a message on X.
“Today I had the feeling for the first time … that everyone was behaving like allies of the same camp,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters on his plane after leaving Berlin. “For the first time, I heard from American negotiators…that the United States would commit to guaranteeing Ukraine’s security in such a way that the Russians would have no doubt that the American response would be military if the Russians attacked Ukraine again.”
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the issue of security guarantees had become “clearer and more credible”, which he called an important step towards lasting peace. “But many difficult questions remain, especially regarding territories and whether Russia really wants peace,” Kristersson said in a statement after the negotiations in Berlin.
TERRITORIAL CONCESSIONS
The United States is pressuring Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the eastern Donetsk region, according to an official familiar with the matter, in a move that would constitute a massive concession that could provoke a violent backlash in Ukraine.
Calling the issue of territorial concessions “painful,” Zelenskiy later told reporters: “Frankly, we still have different positions.” But he added that he believed U.S. mediators would help reach an agreement.
kyiv negotiators will continue consultations with their U.S. counterparts, he said, adding that Ukraine needs a concrete understanding of security guarantees, including monitoring a ceasefire, before making any decisions on the war’s front lines.
“I don’t think (the United States) demanded anything,” Zelenskiy said.
“I see us as strategic partners, so I would say we hear about the issue of territories in relation to Russia’s vision or Russian demands conveyed (by the United States). We see them as demands of the Russian Federation.”
U.S. officials told reporters in a conference call that they had reached agreement on 90 percent of the issues. Even though long-standing territorial issues remain, one said, “we have several different solutions that we are offering to them to resolve these disagreements.”
Ukraine has previously said it will not cede territory to Russia, which has seized almost 20% of the country in the east and south since its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
A European source briefed on the latest negotiations said Russia had not yet given in on its territorial demands. “The atmosphere is good, but the objectives remain quite far from the essential,” underlined the source.
A U.S. official later told reporters that under the deal discussed in Berlin, Ukraine would benefit from security guarantees similar to those provided by Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which requires the alliance to come to the defense of any member under attack.
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