WASHINGTON: The United States said Monday it offered strong, NATO-like security guarantees to Ukraine and voiced confidence that Russia would accept, in what Washington said would be a breakthrough in ending the war.
US 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 Europeans later Monday to push forward the deal.
The US officials warned Ukraine must also accept the deal, which they said would provide security guarantees in line with NATO's Article Five – which calls an attack on one ally an attack on all.
"The basis of that agreement is basically to have really, really strong guarantees -- Article Five like -- also a very, very strong deterrence" in the size of Ukraine's military, a US official said on condition of anonymity.
"Those guarantees will not be on the table forever. Those guarantees are on the table right now if there's a conclusion that's reached in a good way," he said.
Trump has previously ruled out a formal entry of Ukraine into NATO and sided with Russia in calling Kyiv's aspirations to the alliance a reason for the 2022 invasion by Moscow.
But another US official voiced confidence that Russia would back the deal.
"I think the Ukrainians would tell you, as would the Europeans, that this is the most robust set of security protocols they have ever seen. It is a very, very strong package," the second official said.
"I think hopefully the Russians are going to look at it and say to themselves, 'That's OK because we have no intention -- we're going to take them at their word -- we have no intention of violating," he said.
"But violations are going to be addressed with the securities package."
The first official acknowledged that there was no agreement on territory. Trump has called it inevitable that Ukraine would need to surrender territory to Russia, an outcome anathema to Zelensky after his country's defense of nearly four years.
The first US official said that the United States discussed with Zelensky the idea of an "economic free zone" in the area now contested by militaries.
"We spent a lot of time trying to define what that would mean, how it operates. And then ultimately, if we can get that defined, 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 roving global negotiator, and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law.
