President Donald Trump meets with Russia's President Vladimir Putin Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. At left is Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and second from right is Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)2025-08-17T13:40:24Z NEW YORK (AP) Special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the U.S. and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATOs collective defense mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war.We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO, he said on CNNs State of the Union. He added that it was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that we welcome President Trumps willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine. and the Coalition of the willing -- including the European Union -- is ready to do its share. Witkoff, offering some of the first details of what was discussed at Fridays summit in Alaska, said the two sides agreeing to robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing. He added that Russia said that it would make a legislative commitment not to go after any additional territory in Ukraine. Zelenskyy thanked the United States for recent signals that Washington is willing to support security guarantees for Ukraine, but said the details remained unclear. It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine, he said, But there are no details how it will work, and what Americas role will be, Europes role will be and what the EU can do, and this is our main task, we need security to work in practice like Article 5 of NATO, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security guarantees.Witkoff defended Trumps decision to abandon his push for Russian to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying the president had pivoted toward a peace deal because so much progress was made. We covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal, Witkoff said, without elaborating.We began to see some moderation in the way theyre thinking about getting to a final peace deal, he said.Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted there would be additional consequences as Trump warned before meeting with Putin, if they failed to reach a ceasefire. But Rubio noted that there wasnt going to be any sort of deal on a truce reached when Ukraine wasnt at the talks.Now, ultimately, if there isnt a peace agreement, if there isnt an end of this war, the presidents been clear, there are going to be consequences, Rubio said on ABCs This Week. But were trying to avoid that. And the way were trying to avoid those consequences is with an even better consequence, which is peace, the end of hostilities.Rubio, who is also Trumps national security adviser, said he did not believe issuing new sanctions on Russia would force Putin to accept a ceasefire, noting that the latter isnt off the table but that the best way to end this conflict is through a full peace deal. The minute you issue new sanctions, your ability to get them to the table, our ability to get them to table will be severely diminished, Rubio said on NBCs Meet the Press.He also said were not at the precipice of a peace agreement and that getting there would not be easy and would take a lot of work.We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement, but there remains some big areas of disagreement. So were still a long ways off, Rubio said.Zelenskyy and Europeans leaders are scheduled to meet Monday with Trump at the White House. They heard from the president after his meeting with Putin.I think everybody agreed that we had made progress. Maybe not enough for a peace deal, but we are on the path for the first time, Witkoff said.He added: The fundamental issue, which is some sort of land swap, which is obviously ultimately in the control of the Ukrainians -- that could not have been discussed at this meeting with Putin. We intend to discuss it on Monday. Hopefully we have some clarity on it and hopefully that ends up in a peace deal very, very soon. JILL COLVIN Colvin is an Associated Press national political reporter covering the 2024 presidential campaign. She is based in New York. mailto