President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, claimed on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to allow a NATO-esque security agreement between the United States, European nations and Ukraine, a concession that he described as a “breakthrough” in peace talks.
“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,” Witkoff told CNN’s Jake Tapper, adding that it was the “first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.”
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that if one member is attacked, the entire alliance will come to that nation’s defense.
Witkoff’s said the apparent agreement, which he revealed during interviews on CNN’s State of the Union and Fox News Sunday, had yet to be inked, and needed input from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before being finalized.
The agreement would not include membership in NATO itself, Witkoff stressed, saying that was a red line Putin still holds.
At a news conference in Brussels shortly after Witkoff’s interview, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen celebrated the news. “We welcome President Trump’s 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,” she said.
Top Trump envoy @SteveWitkoff tells @jaketapper that Putin agreed to allow "robust security guarantees" for Ukraine as part of a peace deal, describing them as “Article 5-like” protections. pic.twitter.com/6sOOby7PCd
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) August 17, 2025
Zelenskyy, who also spoke at the same news conference Sunday, applauded Trump but stressed that much of the agreement had yet to be finalized.
“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 America’s role will be, Europe’s role will be and what the EU can do.”
“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,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump and his top foreign policy officials are set to meet with Zelenskyy and other European leaders Monday at the White House, where he expressed hope for creating the outline for a peace deal between the two sides. Ukraine and Russia have been at war since 2022, when Putin launched a full-scale invasion that he said was at least partially prompted by Ukraine’s increasingly cozy relationship with NATO member states.
Trump met with Putin Friday for the first time since taking back the White House earlier this year. The high-stakes meeting was “extremely productive,” Trump said, though few details have been officially revealed from the pair’s nearly three-hour discussion.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say,” Trump told reporters following the highly anticipated sit-down. “A couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway.”
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” he added.
When asked about a possible security agreement for Ukraine on Fox News Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the topic would be the subject of Monday’s meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders.
He also painted any such agreement as a concession not just for Russia but for Trump as well.
“It would be a very big move by the president if he were to offer a U.S. commitment to a security guarantee,” Rubio told Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo. “I want people to understand that — if he does it, it tells you how badly he values and wants peace, that he would make a concession like that.”