The United States told Ukraine to accept its “platinum” offer of security guarantees or risk losing them completely.
US officials said Nato-style guarantees were on offer on Monday in Germany, at peace talks that could end the war if Ukraine agrees to cede territory to Russia.
But they also warned that “those guarantees will not be on the table forever”, in an apparent ultimatum to Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to the terms.
The US sources described the security guarantees as “platinum standard”, and said both Ukraine and Europe were happy with the lengths to which Donald Trump had gone in the proposals to prevent any future Russian invasion.
Details of the security guarantees have not been made public. They were hashed out between Mr Zelensky, Steve Witkoff, the US peace envoy, and Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law, over two days of meetings in Berlin.
US officials said they believed 90 per cent of a peace deal had now been agreed by both Kyiv and Moscow.
Mr Trump said on Monday that the deal to end the war was closer than ever. “I think we’re closer now than we have been ever,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, after he spoke with Mr Zelensky and other European leaders.
There is still no agreement on territorial concessions or, the sources added, on the proposed “50-50” split of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – in which energy is produced equally for the two warring countries.
Ukraine ceding territory is a non-negotiable demand of Vladimir Putin.
European leaders said they were pleased with the US offer, which would outline protections for Ukraine in the event of any future invasion by Russia.
Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, said: “What the US has put on the table here in Berlin in terms of legal and material guarantees is really remarkable.”
Mr Zelensky said: “We have now heard from the US side that they are ready to give us security guarantees that correspond to Article 5.” Nato’s Article 5 states that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
In a statement following dinner talks with the US president’s envoys, European leaders said the security guarantees amounted to “a legally binding commitment, subject to national procedures, to take measures to restore peace and security in the case of a future armed attack. These measures may include armed force, intelligence and logistical assistance, economic and diplomatic actions”.
‘Biggest win so far for Ukraine’
The US sources said the offer was the “biggest win so far for Ukraine and for Europe” in peace talks which have at times left transatlantic relations at rock bottom.
“The basis of that agreement is basically to have really, really strong guarantees – Article 5-like – also very strong deterrence, size of military, weaponry,” a US official said.
Mr Trump said that Europe would play a “big part” of security guarantees that would prevent Russia from attacking again.
“In terms of security guarantee, we’re working with Europe on it. Europe would be a big part of that. And we’re working on the security guarantee so the war doesn’t start up again. We don’t want to have a war start up again,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
The US president added that he had spoken to Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, but did not offer any further details.
While full details of the Berlin deal are not yet known, it was suggested it would require US Senate approval, a key demand of Kyiv’s, to ensure its pledges are not scrapped by a future US president.
A US official said: “They are very surprised that they think that we can get Russia to agree to that, since obviously no Nato is such a critical element. So, giving this Nato-like Article 5 guarantee is something that President Trump believes he can get Russia to accept.”
The US president is confident he will be able to convince Putin to accept Washington’s proposals as he seeks to end almost four years of brutal fighting between Kyiv and Moscow, US officials said.
On Monday, as talks were under way in Berlin, the new head of MI6 said Putin was “dragging out negotiations”.
In her first speech in the role, Blaise Metreweli said Russia was trying to “subjugate Ukraine and harass Nato members”.
Before travelling to the German capital, Mr Zelensky had offered to drop his country’s ambitions to join Nato if Ukraine were offered robust and legally binding security measures to prevent a future invasion.
After the talks, a member of Ukraine’s delegation said Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump’s envoys had made “real progress” in their discussions.
Despite positivity over the security guarantees, European sources said the US team had refused to drop a demand for Ukraine to withdraw its military from the eastern Donbas regions as the price for peace.
Mr Zelensky has repeatedly rejected the idea that he should surrender land in Donetsk not yet conquered by Moscow’s forces.
The Telegraph last week reported that Kyiv might agree to withdraw if Russia agreed to pull its troops back in a “reciprocal” move.
However, Ukraine and Europe’s main goal is to agree to a ceasefire along the current front lines.
EU leaders and Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, are also due in Berlin this evening for a further round of talks, though it is unclear whether the US negotiating team will attend them.
Diplomatic sources are sceptical that Putin will agree to sign up to the security guarantees hammered out in Berlin.
“So let’s take them on their word, trust they will bring peace and see what happens when Putin says no,” one source said of the latest US proposals.
Credit: The Telegraph