Wednesday, 27 August, 2025
US President Donald Trump could offer NATO-style security guarantees to Ukraine, and Russia is signalling openness to the idea, one of Trump’s top foreign policy officials said on Sunday ahead of talks with Ukraine and European leaders.
“We were able to secure the following concession: that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection,” Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to Russia, told CNN’s State of the Union. “This was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.”
He was referring to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which treats an attack on any NATO member as an attack on all 32. Witkoff suggested that such a guarantee could be extended to Ukraine as an alternative to NATO membership, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has categorically rejected.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, sparking the bloodiest conflict in Europe since the Second World War. Its forces have been grinding forward for months.
Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who both joined Trump in his meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday, gave a round of interviews ahead of Trump’s Monday summit in Washington with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders.
“We made some progress, we believe, and now we need to build on that,” Rubio told CNN. “Ultimately, this should lead to a meeting between the three leaders — Zelensky, Putin and President Trump — where we can finalise an agreement. But we need to narrow the gaps before getting there.”
Russian officials remain opposed to the presence of Western troops in Ukraine but have not ruled out a security framework for Kyiv. Speaking alongside Trump after their nearly three-hour meeting, Putin said: “I agree with President Trump. He said today that Ukraine’s security must be ensured by all means. Of course, we are ready to work on this.”
Witkoff told "Fox News Sunday" that Russia had also agreed to passing a law against taking any more of Ukraine by force.
"The Russians agreed on enshrining legislatively language that would prevent them from - or that they would attest to not attempting to take any more land from Ukraine after a peace deal, where they would attest to not violating any European borders," he said.
PEACE DEAL VS SURRENDER
Any security guarantees offered to Zelensky could also include a commitment from the United States, Rubio told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures", an option that many of Trump's MAGA supporters have rejected up to now.
"It would be a very big move by the president, if he were to offer a US commitment to a security guarantee," Rubio said. "It tells you how badly he wants peace, how much he values peace, that he would be willing to make a concession like that ...That's what we'll talk about tomorrow."
In a social media post, Trump wrote, "BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!" But he gave no details.
Rubio said US officials discussed security details for Ukraine with the national security advisers of multiple European countries on Saturday, adding that the aim would be to build in details that could ultimately be presented to Russia as part of a peace agreement.
He told Fox News that the talks between Trump and Putin on Friday had narrowed the number of key issues, which include drawing borders and military alliances for Ukraine as well as security guarantees. "There's a lot of work that remains," Rubio added.
According to sources, Trump and Putin discussed proposals for Russia to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine ceding a swathe of fortified land in the east and freezing the front lines elsewhere.
Rubio said Russia and Ukraine would not be able to get everything they want.
“If one side gets everything they want, that's not a peace deal. It's called surrender, and I don't think this is a war that's going to end anytime soon on the basis of surrender,” Rubio told CNN.
In a separate interview on ABC, Rubio said if a deal could not be reached to end the war, existing US sanctions on Russia would continue, and more could be added.
When Zelensky visited the White House in February, the meeting ended in a shouting match. Rubio, speaking to CBS, dismissed the idea that the European leaders were coming to Washington to protect Zelensky.
"They're not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelensky from being bullied. They're coming here tomorrow because we've been working with the Europeans," he said. "We invited them to come."
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US President Donald Trump could offer NATO-style security guarantees to Ukraine, and Russia is signalling openness to the idea, one of Trump’s top foreign policy officials said on Sunday ahead of talks with Ukraine and European leaders.
“We were able to secure the following concession: that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection,” Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to Russia, told CNN’s State of the Union. “This was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.”
He was referring to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which treats an attack on any NATO member as an attack on all 32. Witkoff suggested that such a guarantee could be extended to Ukraine as an alternative to NATO membership, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has categorically rejected.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, sparking the bloodiest conflict in Europe since the Second World War. Its forces have been grinding forward for months.
Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who both joined Trump in his meeting with Putin in Alaska on Friday, gave a round of interviews ahead of Trump’s Monday summit in Washington with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders.
“We made some progress, we believe, and now we need to build on that,” Rubio told CNN. “Ultimately, this should lead to a meeting between the three leaders — Zelensky, Putin and President Trump — where we can finalise an agreement. But we need to narrow the gaps before getting there.”
Russian officials remain opposed to the presence of Western troops in Ukraine but have not ruled out a security framework for Kyiv. Speaking alongside Trump after their nearly three-hour meeting, Putin said: “I agree with President Trump. He said today that Ukraine’s security must be ensured by all means. Of course, we are ready to work on this.”
Witkoff told "Fox News Sunday" that Russia had also agreed to passing a law against taking any more of Ukraine by force.
"The Russians agreed on enshrining legislatively language that would prevent them from - or that they would attest to not attempting to take any more land from Ukraine after a peace deal, where they would attest to not violating any European borders," he said.
PEACE DEAL VS SURRENDER
Any security guarantees offered to Zelensky could also include a commitment from the United States, Rubio told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures", an option that many of Trump's MAGA supporters have rejected up to now.
"It would be a very big move by the president, if he were to offer a US commitment to a security guarantee," Rubio said. "It tells you how badly he wants peace, how much he values peace, that he would be willing to make a concession like that ...That's what we'll talk about tomorrow."
In a social media post, Trump wrote, "BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA. STAY TUNED!" But he gave no details.
Rubio said US officials discussed security details for Ukraine with the national security advisers of multiple European countries on Saturday, adding that the aim would be to build in details that could ultimately be presented to Russia as part of a peace agreement.
He told Fox News that the talks between Trump and Putin on Friday had narrowed the number of key issues, which include drawing borders and military alliances for Ukraine as well as security guarantees. "There's a lot of work that remains," Rubio added.
According to sources, Trump and Putin discussed proposals for Russia to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine ceding a swathe of fortified land in the east and freezing the front lines elsewhere.
Rubio said Russia and Ukraine would not be able to get everything they want.
“If one side gets everything they want, that's not a peace deal. It's called surrender, and I don't think this is a war that's going to end anytime soon on the basis of surrender,” Rubio told CNN.
In a separate interview on ABC, Rubio said if a deal could not be reached to end the war, existing US sanctions on Russia would continue, and more could be added.
When Zelensky visited the White House in February, the meeting ended in a shouting match. Rubio, speaking to CBS, dismissed the idea that the European leaders were coming to Washington to protect Zelensky.
"They're not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelensky from being bullied. They're coming here tomorrow because we've been working with the Europeans," he said. "We invited them to come."
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