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US Offers Security Deal in Ukraine Talks But Territory Still Key
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December 15, 2025
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7:59Now PlayingHeather Conley, a former State Department official, said any deal to halt Russia's war in Ukraine will be unsustainable in the long term without any concessions from Mosco.
US negotiators offered more substantial security guarantees to Kyiv as part of President Donald Trump’s renewed push to end the Russia-Ukraine war, but the effort still appeared part of a bid to pressure President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on territory.
The Trump administration offered to provide Ukraine with strong “Article 5-like” security guarantees — a reference to NATO’s mutual defense clause — as part of the current deal to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict, a US official told reporters, without providing any details.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the US offer of security guarantees “remarkable” and that reaching a peace deal by Christmas “now depends entirely on the Russian side.”
It was part of an upbeat assessment from senior officials gathered for the talks in Berlin on Monday. Working-group level discussions may continue this coming weekend in the US, possibly Miami, the site of previous discussions, the US official said. Trump is likely to call into a dinner meeting of European leaders on Monday hosted by Merz and also attended by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“An agreement has been reached that a ceasefire should be secured by substantial legal and material security guarantees from the US and Europe,” Merz said on Monday. “This is a truly far-reaching and substantial agreement, which we did not have before.”
Zelenskiy’s top security official, Rustem Umerov, cited “real progress” in the German capital after the Ukrainian leader and his team held a second day of discussions lasting about five hours with with US officials led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
Monday evening, European leaders released a declaration outlining a framework agreement in which EU officials “committed” to security guarantees including a multinational force from within the European coalition supported by the US that would help secure Ukraine, a US-led “ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism,” as well as Ukraine maintaining a peace-time army of 800,000 troops — well above a cap that Russia had wanted.
The document — signed by countries including Germany, the UK, Poland and France — also foresees a “legally binding commitment” to help restore peace in case of a future attack as well as future investment to rebuild the war-battered country, as well as support for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.
As the Trump administration tries to pressure Ukraine, it was unclear the new US effort would be able to overcome the obvious but so-far insurmountable hurdles that have halted previous rounds of talks. Russian leader Vladimir Putin hasn’t budged from his maximalist demands about seizing a vast swathe of territory, including areas of the eastern Donbas region he’s been unable to capture. Kyiv, which was attacked by Russian forces in February 2022, has refused to cede land.
Both issues have bedeviled previous rounds of talks. While the US official said Trump was not trying to pressure Ukraine and that they believed Russia could agree to the details negotiated in Berlin, Moscow was not included in the talks, which came after a pro-Russia proposal drafted by Washington and Moscow enraged Ukrainian and European officials.
Even as he lauded the progress on guarantees, Zelenskiy made clear that the positions between Moscow and Kyiv when it comes to territory lie far apart. He urged the US to continue mediating on the “painful” issue. The Ukrainian leader also said that many “destructive” elements in the first draft of the Witkoff plan had been removed.
“We’re making efforts to make our position clear,” Zelenskiy said.
The Americans and Ukrainians discussed territorial issues, with the US backing a Russian demand for Kyiv to withdraw from areas of its eastern Donetsk region that Moscow’s forces have failed to seize since 2014, a person familiar with the matter said.
Zelenskiy repeatedly rejected the demand and — together with European allies — is insisting on a ceasefire along the current line of contact, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive issues.
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