Washington apparently ready to provide Kyiv with security guarantees modeled on NATO Article 5 - media

The US has announced its readiness to provide Ukraine with legally binding security guarantees modeled on NATO Article 5 as part of a potential peace agreement.

This is reported by Axios reporters, citing sources.

The discussions will take place at a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump's advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and leaders of key European states in Berlin on Monday, December 15.

"We want to provide Ukrainians with a security guarantee that, on the one hand, will not be a blank check, and on the other, will be strong enough. We are ready to send it to Congress for a vote," the publication's interlocutor said.

The American official said that three separate agreements will be concluded - on peace, security guarantees and reconstruction - and that the latest negotiations have given Ukrainians "a complete vision of the next day for the first time."

A White House official who spoke to Axios said that Zelenskyy had suggested in public on December 11 that Ukraine hold a referendum on the peace deal, which would include the withdrawal of territories, and that the United States considered it "progress."

Holding such a vote under current conditions would be very difficult. But, according to a US official, Europeans have said that if Zelenskyy proposes a referendum on the territory, they would support it.

During an online meeting on Friday, December 12, Witkoff and Kushner discussed the plan to create a demilitarized zone with national security advisers from Ukraine, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The White House official said that those discussions and the latest round of US-Ukraine talks on Thursday had shown enough progress to convince Trump to send Witkoff and Kushner to Europe.

"They believe there is a chance for peace, and the President trusts them," said a second White House official.

According to a US official, negotiations on a post-war economic and reconstruction package are progressing well.

"Under the current proposal, the war would end with Ukraine retaining sovereignty over 80% of its territory, receiving the largest and strongest security guarantees it has ever had, and a very significant package of measures to ensure prosperity," he added.