US Floats Article 5-Like Security Guarantees for Ukraine While Unresolved Territorial Concessions

The US gives Ukraine strong security promises but doesn’t come to an agreement on how to give up land. This is because Berlin talks are moving forward with the goal of making peace, which is a delicate situation.

As part of ongoing peace talks, the US are suggesting strong, NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine. However, there isn’t an agreement yet on the “painful” question of giving up land as Russia wants.

European leaders suggested a multination force with US support during talks in Berlin over two days to make sure Russia does not break any future agreements to end the war that started when Moscow fully invaded Ukraine in 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that talks with representatives of US President Donald Trump were “not easy” but had made “progress” on getting promises of help with security.

Two high-ranking US officials said that the suggested measures were “Article 5-like,” which showed a strong commitment to defending Ukraine even though the country isn’t in NATO. Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty says that if one state is attacked, it is like all of them were attacked.

After the talks in Berlin, Trump told reporters at the White House that he had talked to Zelensky and leaders from Germany, Italy, NATO, Finland, France, Britain, Poland, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands. He said that this made him hopeful that a deal might be possible.

Trump said, “We’re trying to get it done, and I think we’re closer now than we’ve ever been.” He went on to say that talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin were still happening.

But US officials warned that the security promises would not be available forever as Washington seeks to end the war. They said that about 90% of the issues between Ukraine and Russia were agreed upon, but they also said that problems of territory and sovereignty were still not agreed upon.

Ukraine has always refused to give up any land, a stance backed by public opinion polls that show few Ukrainians are willing to make compromises. On the other hand, Russia has been very inflexible about its expectations.

One American government worker said that Moscow seemed okay with Ukraine joining the EU, but Trump wanted to stop Russia from moving westward and expanding their territory. The suggested guarantees would include close monitoring and conflict resolution mechanisms to stop small problems from getting worse.

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who were sent by Trump, led the US at the talks in Berlin. This weekend, working groups are supposed to meet in the United States to settle the last few problems, including land disputes mentioned in a draft negotiators’ document.

According to US officials, talks also included a “prosperity package” for rebuilding Ukraine after the war. This would involve the World Bank, European countries, and a team lead by Larry Fink, who is the CEO of BlackRock.