Special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Russia’s Vladimir Putin agreed at this summit with President Donald Trump to let the United States and its European allies offer Ukraine a security guarantee similar to NATO’s collective defense mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the three and a half-year war in Ukraine.
One of the main reasons Ukraine wants to join NATO is that the United States might provide protection similar to Article 5; we were able to secure this concession,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union. He called them game-changing and noted that it was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.
The core of the 32-member military alliance is Article 5, which declares that an armed attack on one or more members is an attack on all members.
Few specifics on the nature of such an agreement were provided by Witkoff, who had accompanied Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the discussions on Friday at a military installation in Alaska. However, it seemed to be a significant change for Putin and might be a way to get past his long-standing opposition to Ukraine joining NATO.
Witkoff also described some of the specifics of the secret talks, stating that Russia had committed to passing legislation prohibiting it from “going after any other European countries and violating their sovereignty.” There were many more.
Speaking at a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised the action. “The Coalition of the willing, which includes the European Union, is prepared to contribute its share, and we applaud President Trump’s willingness to help provide Article 5-style security guarantees for Ukraine,” she said.
Although much was unclear, Zelenskyy hailed the US for recent indications that Washington was prepared to back such commitments.
He stated that the United States’ cooperation with Europe in ensuring Ukraine’s security is crucial. We need security to function in practice, like Article 5 of NATO, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security assurances, he added, but there are no specifics on how it will work, what America’s role will be, what Europe’s role will be, or what the EU can do.
As a precondition for the meeting, Witkoff justified Trump’s decision to drop his demand that Russia agree to an immediate ceasefire. Witkoff stated so much progress had been achieved that the Republican president had changed his mind about a peace agreement.
Without going into further detail, Witkoff stated, “We discussed nearly every other issue required for a peace agreement.” We started to notice some restraint in their approach to reaching a definitive peace agreement.
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Rubio, who made appearances on three Sunday news programs, stated that since Ukraine was not present at the summit, no truce of any kind will be struck.
Rubio stated on ABC’s This Week that there would be repercussions if there isn’t a peace deal and the conflict doesn’t end, as the president has made clear. But that’s what we’re attempting to avoid.”
Rubio, who is also Trump’s national security adviser, stated that he did not think Putin would agree to a ceasefire if the United States imposed further penalties on Russia.
Rubio stated on NBC’s Meet the Press that “the moment you impose new sanctions, your ability to get them to the table will be severely diminished.”
Additionally, he stated that we are not on the verge of a peace deal and that it would require a great deal of effort to get there.
Although there are still some significant points of contention, we made progress in identifying possible points of agreement. Rubio stated that we are still a long way off.
Trump will meet with Zelenskyy at the White House on Monday after the leaders of Europe spoke with him following the conference.
Everyone, I believe, agreed that we had made headway. Witkoff stated, “We are on the path for the first time, even if it isn’t enough for a peace deal.”
“This meeting with Putin could not have addressed the fundamental issue, which is some sort of land swap, which is obviously ultimately in the control of the Ukrainians,” he continued. On Monday, we plan to talk about it. I hope we can get some clarification on it and that a peace agreement is reached fairly soon.
