IRIA News

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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has agreed to let the U.S. and its European allies offer Ukraine NATO-style security guarantees, U.S. officials said. The concession is part of talks on a potential peace deal between the two warring countries.

U.S. President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who joined Secretary of State Marco Rubio during talks with Putin and President Donald Trump on August 15, 2025, in Alaska, said the Russian leader accepted that Washington and European partners could offer Ukraine an “Article 5-like protection.”

“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,” Witkoff told the media on Sunday. “It was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.” He called the development “game-changing.”

Breakthrough on security guarantees

Article 5 of the NATO treaty obligates the 32-member alliance to treat an attack on one member as an attack on all. While Ukraine’s formal NATO accession remains opposed by both Russia and the Trump administration, the new proposal envisions a parallel mechanism.

Witkoff did not provide details on how the guarantees would function. However, he said Russia also agreed to enact a law pledging not to violate the sovereignty of other European nations.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the announcement during a press conference in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We welcome President Trump’s willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine, and the ‘Coalition of the Willing’, including the European Union, is ready to do its share,” she said.

Zelenskyy is cautious but encouraged

President Zelenskyy expressed cautious optimism, thanking Washington for supporting the principle of guarantees while noting unanswered questions.

“It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “But there are no details on how it will work, and what America’s role will be, what Europe’s role will be, and what the EU can do. We need security to work in practice, like Article 5 of NATO, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security guarantees.”

The Ukrainian leader is scheduled to meet Trump at the White House on Monday, alongside European officials, to explore how the proposal could be implemented.

Shift away from an immediate ceasefire

The Alaska summit had originally been framed around securing a ceasefire. Trump had publicly pushed for one in the weeks leading up to the meeting, but Witkoff said the president chose to prioritize progress on a broader peace deal.

“We covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal,” Witkoff said. “We began to see some moderation in the way they’re thinking about getting to a final peace deal.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the change in focus, arguing that new U.S. sanctions would have risked collapsing the negotiations. “If he did this now, the moment the president puts those additional sanctions, that’s the end of the talks,” he told media reporters.

“We want to wind up with a peace deal that ends this war so Ukraine can go on with the rest of their lives and rebuild their country and be assured that this is never going to happen again. That’s the goal here,” Rubio added.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni confirmed the U.S. president raised the concept of a NATO-inspired guarantee during a call with Zelenskyy and European leaders following his meeting with Putin. She described it as a “collective security clause that would allow Ukraine to benefit from the support of all its partners, including the U.S., ready to act in case it is attacked again.”

Meloni has previously advocated for such measures, telling Italian lawmakers in March that security guarantees should not necessarily mean automatic military intervention. She stressed that while NATO’s Article 5 allows for the use of force, “it is not the only possible option.”

Diplomatic sources confirmed that the U.S. proposal was relayed directly to Zelenskyy and repeated in the joint call with European leaders. One source cautioned, however, that “no one knows how this could work and why Putin would agree to it if he is categorically against NATO and obviously against really effective guarantees of Ukraine’s sovereignty.”

What comes next

The White House meeting on Monday between Trump, Zelenskyy, and European leaders is expected to focus on defining the scope of the guarantees, the role of U.S. and European militaries, and possible arrangements for Ukraine’s long-term security.

Rubio acknowledged that compromises will be required. “Kyiv is going to have to accept things, but they’re going to have to get things too,” he said. “For example, Ukraine is a sovereign country. They have a right, like every sovereign country does in the world, to enter into security alliances with other countries to prevent an invasion in the future, to prevent threats to their national security.”

While officials stopped short of declaring a breakthrough, they emphasized progress. “I’m not saying we’re on the verge of a peace deal, but I am saying that we saw movement,” Rubio said. “Enough movement to justify a follow-up meeting with Zelenskyy and the Europeans, enough movement for us to dedicate even more time to this.”

For Kyiv, the question remains whether guarantees outside NATO can be both credible and enforceable. For Washington and Europe, the challenge will be ensuring they deter future aggression without triggering direct conflict with Russia.