Ukraine: Putin agreed to security guarantees inspired by NATO defense pact, says United States

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said today that Putin agreed at the summit with Donald Trump to give Ukraine security guarantees similar to NATO's collective defense mandate.

"We were able to obtain the following concession: that the United States could offer protections similar to Article 5, which is one of the real reasons Ukraine wants to join NATO," Steve Witkoff said on CNN's "State of the Union."

“It was the first time we heard the Russians agree to this,” he added.

Witkoff, who revealed some of the first details of what was discussed at Friday's summit in Alaska, said the two sides agreed to "robust security guarantees," describing them as "game-changing."

Russia, he added, said it would make a legislative commitment not to annex any additional territory in Ukraine.

"The Russians have made some concessions regarding the five regions [in eastern Ukraine]. There's an important discussion about Donetsk and what will happen there," Witkoff said in the interview, which comes two days after a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, which failed to produce progress on a ceasefire in Ukraine.

The statements also come on the eve of a White House reception for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.

Donald Trump's envoy to Ukraine expressed optimism about the meeting, expressing hope that a consensus could be reached.

"I'm optimistic that we'll have a productive meeting on Monday, that we'll reach a real consensus, that we'll be able to go back to the Russians and move forward with this peace agreement and get it done," Steve Witkoff said.

Witkoff defended Trump's decision to abandon pressure on Russia to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying the president had moved toward a peace deal because significant progress had been made.

"We've begun to see some moderation in their approach to reaching a final peace agreement. We've covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace agreement," he said, without elaborating.

Also today, Donald Trump claimed "great progress" with Russia in a succinct message posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.

"Great progress on Russia. Keep an eye on it!" he wrote.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has already praised Donald Trump's proposal to offer NATO-inspired security guarantees to Ukraine and said she hopes for a tripartite summit "as soon as possible."

Several European leaders, including Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, are meeting today via video conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to prepare for the meeting with the President of the United States of America (USA).

Monday's meeting, which will take place at the White House, was called after the summit between the US leader and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska, which ended without a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine, as Donald Trump had hoped.

After Friday's summit, the US President began advocating a peace agreement as a solution to the war in Ukraine, triggered by the Russian invasion in February 2022.