Trump administration ready to provide Ukraine with Article 5 NATO-based guarantee - Axios
Kyiv • UNN
Negotiations on security guarantees for Ukraine from the US and Europe have made significant progress. The US is ready to provide guarantees based on NATO's Article 5, approved by Congress, with legal force.
Negotiations on security guarantees that Ukraine will receive from the US and Europe have made significant progress, Axios reports, writes UNN.
A senior US official said the Trump administration is ready to provide Ukraine with a NATO Article 5-based guarantee that would be approved by Congress and legally binding.
"We want to provide Ukrainians with security guarantees that will not be a blank check on the one hand, but will be strong enough on the other. We are ready to send it to Congress for a vote," the American official said.
The American official said there would be three separate agreements - on peace, security guarantees, and reconstruction - and that the latest talks for the first time gave Ukrainians "a full vision of the day after."
Negotiations on a post-war economic and reconstruction aid package are going well, according to the American official.
"When people see what they will get, not just what they are going to give, they will be more willing to move forward," the American official said.
"Under the current proposal, the war will end with Ukraine retaining sovereignty over 80% of its territory, receiving the largest and strongest security guarantee it has ever received, and receiving a very significant prosperity package," the official added.
At the same time, the publication writes, "several European leaders advised Zelensky not to rush into a deal, especially one that forces him to cede territory that Ukraine has not actually lost on the battlefield."
It is also unclear whether Russia will be willing to accept the US proposals.
Zelensky said on Thursday that the American side wants to reach "a full understanding" on the plan by Christmas.
President Trump's advisors Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to meet on Monday in Berlin with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Germany, France, and Great Britain to try to reach an agreement on the US plan for peace in Ukraine, two White House officials told Axios.
"The White House is strongly pushing Ukraine to approve the plan, but the territorial concessions Kyiv is being asked to make remain a major stumbling block. The American side believes that all other issues are close to being resolved, and that Zelensky may have offered a way forward on territory," the publication states.
A White House official noted that Zelensky, during public appearances on Thursday, suggested that Ukraine could hold a referendum on a peace agreement that includes ceding territory. The official said that "the US views this as progress."
Russia insists that it must control all of Donbas under any agreement, despite the fact that part of Donbas is still held by Ukraine. The US included Russia's demand in its plan, while proposing that this territory become a demilitarized zone, the publication indicates.
"In the same remarks, Zelensky made it clear that he is very skeptical of the US proposal for a 'free economic zone' in Donbas and seeks changes and clarifications on other issues," the publication notes.
He said he believes that the question of whether the compromises Ukraine is being asked to make are fair will be "answered by the people of Ukraine" in a referendum or election.
"Holding such a vote under current circumstances would be very difficult. But the American official said that the Europeans stated during a meeting on Friday that if Zelensky proposes a referendum on the territory, they will support it," the publication says.
At this virtual meeting, Witkoff and Kushner reportedly "discussed the demilitarized zone plan with national security advisors from Ukraine, Germany, France, and Great Britain."
A White House official said that "these discussions and the latest round of US-Ukraine talks on Thursday showed enough progress to convince Trump to send Witkoff and Kushner to Europe."
"They believe there may be a chance for peace, and the president trusts them," a second White House official said.