Politico: U.S. makes clear it won't sign security assurances until there's a peace deal

The United States has "made it clear to Ukraine" that it will not finalize a security guarantee agreement to protect it from future Russian aggression until Kyiv and Moscow reach a general agreement to end the war. This was written by Politico citing two unnamed European officials and a senior U.S. official.

"As Russia persists in its demands for territory that Ukraine will not give up, the peace process is stalled," the publication says.

One of the officials of the US Presidential Administration Donald Trump claims that the head of the White House is not trying to use the deal as leverage over the president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"He [Trump] wants a lot of things to be finalized and fixed before the actual signing. He does not want to sign the document just like that. If it somehow hinders further peace talks, what's the point?" the official said, referring to security guarantees.

The source added that the territory is the "main stumbling block" in this process.

"Both sides are quite stubborn, but I think everyone feels there is a way forward," he said.

According to another person familiar with the diplomatic talks, the United States, Russia and Ukraine plan to meet again next week, possibly in Miami or Abu Dhabi. That's where U.S. officials believe "progress" could be made.

However, as Politico notes, Trump's special representative for peacekeeping missions Steve Witkoff is "juggling" negotiations on Iran and the war in Ukraine, which makes shuttle diplomacy even more difficult.

According to one European official and another person familiar with the diplomatic discussions, during the latest round of talks in Abu Dhabi, the sides reached broad agreement on how to define a ceasefire and what a demilitarized zone might look like if the leaders decide to end hostilities. But the main sticking points – what the map of Ukraine and the presence of Western troops will look like – remain unresolved.

• One of the main demands of the Russian Federation is the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Ukrainian Donbas. Kyiv refuses from this, as well as opposes recognition of its territories as Russian.
• In addition to security guarantees, Ukraine and the United States plan to sign a document on reconstruction.
• An interlocutor in the US Parliament said LIGA.net that in the Congress not in the knowthe US administration has not yet clarified what kind of security guarantees it is willing to provide to Ukraine. This was also confirmed by the head of the Rada's Committee on European Integration, Klympush-Tsintsadze.
• Moore, a lawyer and former congressional consultant, explained LIGA.net that the main aspect of the US guarantees for Ukraine will not be their text, but the availability of annual funding, otherwise the support will have to fight.
• february 10, US Ambassador to NATO Whitaker linked the fact that Ukraine and the United States have not yet signed an agreement on security guarantees, with the unresolved the issue of territories in the negotiations.