NEW YORKAs part of an eventual agreement to end the three-and-a-half-year conflict, Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the United States and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee similar to NATO’s collective defense mandate, according to special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff on Sunday.
He stated on CNN’s State of the Union that “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.” “It was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that,” he continued.
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“We welcome President Trump’s willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, during a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Brussels. both the European Union and the Coalition of the Willing are prepared to contribute.
Witkoff said the two parties agreed to strong security guarantees that I would characterize as “game-changing,” providing some of the first details of what was discussed at Friday’s summit in Alaska. According to him, Russia promised to enact legislation prohibiting the annexation of any more Ukrainian territory.
Although the specifics are still unknown, Zelenskyy hailed the US for recent indications that Washington is prepared to provide security guarantees for Ukraine.
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 view EU accession as part of the security assurances. However, there are no specifics on how it will operate, what America’s role will be, what Europe’s role will be, or what the EU can do. This is our main task.
In defense of Trump’s decision to drop his demand that Russia agree to an immediate ceasefire, Witkoff said the president had changed course in favor of a peace agreement since so much progress had been achieved.
Without going into further detail, Witkoff stated, “We discussed nearly every other issue required for a peace agreement.”
According to him, we started to notice some restraint in their approach to reaching a definitive peace agreement.
As Trump threatened before to their meeting with Putin, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that if they were unable to come to an agreement on a ceasefire, there would be more repercussions. However, Rubio pointed out that if Ukraine wasn’t present in the negotiations, no agreement on a truce would be made.
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. And the better outcome—peace, the cessation of hostilities—is how we’re attempting to avoid terrible outcomes.
Rubio, who is also Trump’s national security adviser, stated that he did not think that imposing more sanctions on Russia would compel Putin to agree to a ceasefire, adding that a comprehensive peace agreement is the best approach to put an end to this fight.
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 is expected to meet with Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House on Monday. Following his meeting with Putin, they received a message from the president.
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.”
He went on to say: “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.”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.
