White House signals strong momentum toward peace in Ukraine but many questions linger

CNN

10 hours ago

President Donald Trump's foreign envoy Steve Witkoff — one of three American participants in Friday's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin — described on Sunday several major agreements reached during the Alaska talks that he said created strong momentum toward a peace agreement with Ukraine.
Witkoff told CNN that Putin had signed off on allowing 'robust' security guarantees as part of an eventual peace accord, including a provision that would provide for a collective defense of Ukraine by the United States and Europe should Russia attempt another invasion.
'We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as game changing,' Witkoff told Jake Tapper on 'State of the Union,' adding the Russians had also pledged 'legislative enshrinement' of a promise not to invade Ukraine or another European country in any forthcoming peace plan.
Neither provision has been mentioned in Russian accounts of the summit.
Witkoff's public description of Friday's summit was the most fulsome yet of what was discussed for nearly three hours behind closed doors in Anchorage. Trump will meet Monday at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and several European leaders to discuss the matter in more detail.
Still, many questions remained about how the US is assessing Putin's seriousness about reaching a deal, whether his promises can be trusted after a track record of violating previous peace agreements and what exactly Trump is willing to offer to ensure Ukraine isn't invaded again.
Heading into Friday's meeting, Trump said he would be disappointed if a ceasefire wasn't reached and threatened 'severe' consequences on Russia if Putin didn't end the fighting.
But as he departed, Trump said he was no longer aiming for an immediate ceasefire and declared 'we don't have to think' about sanctions after the talks.
Witkoff said significant progress during the summit led Trump to abandon his push for an immediate ceasefire and instead work toward advancing a larger peace agreement.
'We made so much progress at this meeting with regard to all the other ingredients necessary for a for a peace deal that we, that President Trump, pivoted to that place,' Witkoff said.
The other US participant in the talks, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, offered a more guarded assessment of how close a peace agreement may be.
'We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement, but there remains some big areas of disagreement. So we're still a long ways off,' he said on ABC's 'This Week.' 'We're not at the precipice of a peace agreement, we're not at the edge of one, but I do think progress was made.'
He said later on CBS' 'Face the Nation' that any agreement to end the war would cause disappointment on both sides.
'It may not be pleasant, it may be distasteful, but in order for there to be an end to the war, there are things that Russia wants that it cannot get and there are things that Ukraine wants that it's not going to get,' he said.
The agreements Witkoff described will be at the center of meetings Monday between Trump and Zelensky. A large delegation of European officials — including the leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Finland, the European Union and NATO — will accompany the Ukrainian leader for the talks.
European leaders have been pressing Trump to follow through on his threat of tough new economic penalties on Russia, but Rubio cautioned such steps could scuttle progress on a peace deal.
'The minute he takes those steps, all talks stop,' he said. 'The minute we take those steps, there is no one left in the world to go talk to the Russians and try to get them to the table to reach a peace agreement.'
A breakout session during Monday's talks at the White House will explore options for security guarantees for Ukraine that would ensure Russia is unable to re-invade the country once a peace deal is in place. Zelensky and European leaders have said such assurances are necessary as part of a peace accord.
Witkoff said the clause agreed to by Russia — akin to NATO's 'Article 5' agreement that an attack against one country is an attack against all — was a workaround for Russia's insistence Ukraine never be able to join NATO.
He described it as the 'first time we had ever heard the Russians agree' to such a provision being included in a peace deal.
What the United States would contribute to the effort — versus the the Europeans — remained unclear. Trump has previously stated clearly that American troops won't be on the ground in Ukraine, and has said the onus is on European nations to take the lead in protecting it.
Some officials believe a robust security infrastructure for Ukraine could make it easier for Zelensky to accept some of Russia's demands for land concessions as part of a peace deal.
Putin has not abandoned some of his maximalist ideas, including that Ukraine give up the entire eastern Donbas region, where Russia currently occupies large swaths of territory.
But Witkoff said Putin did make some concessions on his land requirements, suggested the Russians now see 'land swapping' occurring at the current frontlines of the war rather than the administrative boundaries of at least some of the five regions long in Putin's sights.
'The Russians made some concessions at the table with regard to all five of those regions,' he said, adding the issue would be discussed with Zelensky on Monday and 'hopefully we can cut through and make some decisions right then and there.'