Witkoff: Putin agreed to security guarantees for Ukraine based on the NATO model

Witkoff: Putin agreed to security guarantees for Ukraine based on the NATO model

Special Representative of the US President Steve Witkoff stated that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, at the summit in Alaska, agreed to provide Ukraine with "strong security guarantees" from the US and European allies as part of a potential peace agreement.

Witkoff said this to CNN.

Trump’s special envoy commented on the results of the talks between the leaders of Russia and the US, which took place on August 15.

"We agreed on strong security guarantees, which I would call game-changing," – Witkoff said, describing the security guarantees against a potential future Russian invasion as modeled on NATO’s "Article 5."

"We reached an agreement that the US and other European countries can effectively offer wording similar to Article 5 to ensure security guarantees," – Witkoff said.

"Putin said that the red line is NATO membership. And so we discussed this, based on the fact that this condition remained in place, assuming that Ukrainians could agree to it and come to terms with it – and everything will depend on what Ukrainians can come to terms with. But assuming they could, then we were able to get the next concession: the United States could offer protection similar to Article 5," – added Trump’s special envoy.

Witkoff emphasized that this is "the first time we have heard that the Russians agreed to include such a condition in a peace agreement."

He also noted that Putin, as part of a potential peace agreement, also agreed to "legally enshrine" that Russia would not attack any other territory – in Ukraine or in Europe.

During a nearly three-hour meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday, Putin outlined his demands for a "territory swap" with Ukraine, including a demand for Ukraine to relinquish Donbas.

Putin stated that in exchange for this, he is ready to freeze the current front lines in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions and agree to a promise not to attack Ukraine or other European countries.

However, he did not abandon the demand to eliminate the "root causes of the war" in Ukraine, referring to the reduction of the Ukrainian armed forces, Ukraine’s abandonment of aspirations to join NATO, and the transformation of Ukraine into a neutral state.