WASHINGTON, Dec 16 — US President Donald Trump insisted yesterday that a deal to end the Ukraine war was closer than ever, after Washington said it offered Kyiv Nato-like security guarantees and voiced confidence Moscow would accept.

Trump said he had “very long and very good” talks with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Nato and European countries including Britain, France and Germany.

“We’re trying to get it done, and I think we’re closer now,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about talks in recent days between US officials, Zelensky and the Europeans in Berlin.

“We had numerous conversations with President Putin of Russia, and I think we’re closer now than we have been ever, and we’ll see what we can do.”

Asked if he had recently spoken directly to Vladimir Putin, Trump replied “yeah, I have,” but did not give any details.

But Trump appeared to suggest that in exchange for security guarantees, Ukraine must agree to give Russia the parts of the eastern Donbas region that Kyiv still holds — something Zelensky has previously ruled out.

“Well, they’ve already lost the territory, to be honest,” he said when asked what incentive Ukraine would have to give up land.

Trump said Europe — which has again proposed a multinational peacekeeping force despite Russia’s opposition — would be a “big part” of any security guarantee.

Russia, whose full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, has yet to react to the proposal being thrashed out by the US, Ukrainian and European officials during hours of talks in Berlin.

‘Article Five like’ 

Before Trump’s calls, US officials had described the meetings—led by Steve Witkoff, the US president’s business friend and roving global negotiator, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner—as positive.

But the officials warned Ukraine must also accept the deal, which they said would provide security guarantees in line with Nato’s Article Five—which calls an attack on one ally an attack on all.

“The basis of that agreement is basically to have really, really strong guarantees—Article Five like—also a very, very strong deterrence” in the size of Ukraine’s military, one US official said on condition of anonymity.

“Those guarantees will not be on the table forever,” he said.

Trump has previously ruled out a formal entry of Ukraine into Nato and sided with Russia in calling Kyiv’s aspirations to the alliance a reason for Moscow’s invasion.

But another US official voiced confidence that Russia would back the deal, and said the security guarantees were “very, very strong.”

“I think hopefully the Russians are going to look at it and say to themselves, ‘That’s OK because we have no intention — we’re going to take them at their word — we have no intention of violating,” he said.

“But violations are going to be addressed with the securities package.”

The first official acknowledged that there was no agreement on territory but said the United States discussed with Zelensky the idea of an “economic free zone” in the area now contested by militaries. — AFP