Politico: U.S. ready to give Ukraine NATO-style guarantees, but gives ultimatum

The United States is encouraging Ukraine to reach an agreement to end the war as soon as possible by offering security guarantees based on NATO Article 5. This was reported by the newspaper Politico, citing unnamed U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

The United States is offering Ukraine security guarantees similar to those it would receive within the Alliance. This offer is the strongest and most explicit security promise that the US administration has Donald Trump has ever made to Ukraine, but it is accompanied by an implicit ultimatum: accept it now, or the offer will not be as generous.

The article says that the proposal of so-called Article 5-like safeguards comes amid talks between the US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law and unofficial adviser Jared Kushner and Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin, as Washington tries to pressure Kyiv to accept the terms.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy but many European leaders are reluctant to accept the deal without explicit security guarantees from the United States, fearing that Russia will attack again in the future.

This latest US offer is likely an attempt to allay these fears and also to encourage Zelenskyy to act quickly.

"The basis of this agreement is to have really, really strong safeguards like Article 5. These safeguards will not be on the table forever. These safeguards are on the table right now, if a positive conclusion is reached," the U.S. official said.

A second American official said that the Ukrainian delegation was pleasantly "surprised" by Trump's willingness to agree to stronger security guarantees and to have them ratified by Congress so that they would remain in force after his presidency.

• Axios, citing a US official, wrote that the Trump administration is allegedly ready to provide Ukraine with a security guarantee based on NATO's collective security article. However, the same peace plan includes the creation of "demilitarized zone" in the Ukrainian Donbas with the withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
• On December 14, Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine and the United States they are discussing providing Kyiv with security guarantees similar to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.