Trump affords Ukraine ‘NATO-style’ safety assure in the event that they agree to surrender territory to Russia – however warns the deal ‘will not be on the desk for ever’
Donald Trump has offered Ukraine a ‘platinum’ NATO-style security guarantee if it agrees to give up territory to Russia, but has warned Volodymyr Zelensky that this deal ‘will not be on the table forever’.
Zelensky has been meeting with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff in Berlin for the last two days hashing out a peace deal to end the invasion of Ukraine, nearly four years after it began.
Trump said of the deal last night: ‘I think we’re closer now than we have ever been’.
But there are still some sticking points, particularly over whether Ukraine will secede territory to Putin.
Both Zelensky and the Russian despot have previously said the issue of land is non-negotiable.
But Trump’s offer may finally see the nearly-four year invasion come to an end, with Zelensky himself confirming following the meeting with American officials: ‘We have now heard from the US side that they are ready to give us security guarantees that correspond to Article 5.’
Though details haven’t formally been revealed, European leaders said the security arrangement 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’.
The security arrangement may require US Senate approval, a key demand of Kyiv, so a future US president is unable to scrap the deal.
Donald Trump (pictured) has offered Ukraine a ‘platinum’ NATO-style security guarantee if it agrees to give up territory to Russia
Firefighters work at the site of an apartment building damaged during a morning Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine December 16, 2025
Trump himself said that Europe would be playing a ‘big part’ of the arrangement, aimed at preventing 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’.
Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, said of the deal: ‘What the US has put on the table here in Berlin in terms of legal and material guarantees is really remarkable’.
But an advisor to Emmanuel Macron, France’s leader, said the country wanted ‘robust security guarantees first before any discussions on territory’.
While the Ukrainians and Europeans appear to be somewhat satisfied with the proposed security arrangement, Moscow is yet to comment on the matter.
Its deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said Russia was not willing to make any concessions on territory it has captured from Ukraine, including Donbas, Crimea and the swathe of land that Moscow calls ‘Novorossiya’.
Trump said he has spoken to Putin, but did not indicate whether the Russian leader is happy with the deal or not.
Putin has long argued that Ukraine’s accession to NATO is a threat to Moscow‘s security.
Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile and drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine December 13, 2025
A burned and unusable car is seen as firefighters continue to extinguish the fire that broke out in a house following the Russian drone attacks on Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine on December 13, 2025
Just three days before he invaded Ukraine in February 2022, he claimed in a speech that Ukraine’s membership in NATO would threaten Russia.
Despite this, American officials claimed to the Telegraph that Trump believes he can convince Putin to accept Washington’s proposals.
It comes as Russia claimed this morning it was in control of the key city of Kupiansk in northeast Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces recently claimed to have retaken several areas.
‘The city of Kupiansk is under the control of the Russian Sixth Army,’ Leonid Sharov, head of the Zapad military group, told state news agency TASS.
Russia said it had captured Kupiansk in November but Ukraine later claimed it had retaken several areas of the city.
Sharov said ‘small groups’ of Ukrainian soldiers were trying daily to get into Kupiansk, a rail hub in the Kharkiv region.
But he insisted: ‘All areas are under the control of Russian forces.’
Firefighters from Ukraine’s emergency services work to extinguish a blaze as flames rise from a civilian tanker truck hit in a Russian drone attack in Druzhkivka, Donetsk Oblast, on December 15, 2025
Zelensky said in a video published on Friday that he had visited troops in the Kupiansk area, after Kyiv announced the recapture of several districts and two nearby localities.
His visit came shortly after Ukrainian forces announced a ‘breakthrough’ in the area.
The Russian army launched a full-scale offensive in Ukraine in February 2022 and currently occupies 20 percent of the country, in the east and south.
