Putin agrees to 'robust' security guarantees for Ukraine – US envoy

Russian dictator vladimir putin has agreed to robust security guarantees for Ukraine, similar to NATO's Article 5 collective defense, US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff said. His words were quoted by the Associated Press and CNN on Sunday, August 17.

Witkoff said that putin agreed during talks with US President Donald Trump that the US and European allies would provide Ukraine's security guarantees, similar to NATO's collective defense mandate.

"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," the envoy said.

It was noted that they agreed that the United States and other European countries could effectively propose wording similar to Article 5 to provide security guarantees.

According to Witkoff, the clause is similar to NATO Article 5, where an attack on one member is tantamount to an attack on the entire North Atlantic Alliance. Witkoff called it a way to circumvent russia's demands that Ukraine never join NATO. In his opinion, this is "the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that" to include such a clause in a peace agreement.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on August 18, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will participate in a meeting between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in Washington.

On August 17, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US may not create the conditions to end the war in Ukraine.

As we will recall, Reuters published a list of putin's demands for a settlement of the war in Ukraine.