Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed the U.S. and European allies could extend “Article 5-like” security guarantees to Ukraine as part of a future peace deal, according to Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy who joined Friday’s Alaska summit. Witkoff told CNN it was “the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that” and called the shift “game-changing.”
Details are thin. Article 5 is NATO’s mutual-defense clause—an attack on one is an attack on all—and any Ukraine “guarantee” would have to be designed outside of formal NATO membership, which Moscow opposes and Kyiv seeks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said talks in Washington this week will focus on “how it’s constructed, what we call it, how it’s built, what guarantees are built into it that are enforceable.”
Trump celebrated “BIG PROGRESS” on social media but also put pressure on Kyiv, writing that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “can end the war… almost immediately,” reiterating that Ukraine would not enter NATO and that Crimea would not be reversed. Rubio cautioned the process is “still a long ways off,” adding that no ceasefire was possible Friday because Ukraine wasn’t at the table.
Europe moved quickly to engage. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed U.S. openness to guarantees and said a “coalition of the willing,” including the EU, is prepared to help police any future peace. French President Emmanuel Macron argued substance matters more than labels and pressed for expanding training, equipment and a non-front-line allied presence to backstop a deal.
Zelenskyy thanked Washington for signaling support but said the mechanism must “work in practice like Article 5,” and warned Russia is resisting calls for a ceasefire: “Russia… has not yet determined when it will stop the killing.” Kyiv remains firm that any territorial talks must reflect current contact lines, not concede land Russia hasn’t taken.
Territory remains the hardest question. European officials said Putin reiterated claims on the Donetsk and Luhansk regions; Witkoff said Moscow wants boundaries set by “legal” lines rather than battlefield gains. Zelenskyy has rejected ceding the Donbas as a condition for peace.
Witkoff also said Russia agreed to codify promises not to seize more Ukrainian land after a deal and not to violate other European borders—another assertion that will face intense scrutiny in the days ahead.
After rating the summit “a 10,” Trump said he hopes to stage a second meeting that would include Zelenskyy and possibly some European leaders. For now, the White House pivot from pushing an immediate truce to chasing a fuller peace framework has raised hopes of a guardrail against future aggression—while leaving the hardest trade-offs squarely in front of Kyiv and its allies.
