The comments came after 2 1/2 days of intensive discussions between President Donald Trump’s special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff; the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and top European officials in Berlin.
Zelensky, in a post on the social platform X, described the negotiations as a “first draft” but emphasized “the military part looks quite solid.” The Ukrainian president said the two sides “worked very well together” but cautioned against “destructive” elements to be removed.
“This matters, because dignity matters,” he added.
A meeting in Miami is scheduled for the weekend to include “working groups, military people, looking at maps,” a senior official told reporters in a phone briefing. It’s unclear when another meeting with Russia might take place.
“We believe that we probably solve for, I don’t know, it could be 90 percent, literally 90 percent of the issues between Ukraine and Russia,” the senior official said on the call.
“But there’s some more things that have to be worked out.”
Witkoff and Kushner last met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Dec. 2 for about five hours. Putin complained in an interview with India Today that the meeting was too long and that he grew “weary.” He ultimately rejected parts of the 20-point proposal.
The two U.S. officials said that 20-point plan served as the basis for discussions in Berlin. It had not been released or leaked, unlike a 28-point plan that largely favored Russia’s demands.
The officials added consensus was reached on security guarantees “like” NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense pact, but they would not detail what type of U.S. commitments that would entail. The Senate is required to ratify any treaties between the U.S. and another country.
“It would have to go before the Senate, and President Trump is willing to do that,” the second senior U.S. official continued.
The official added Ukrainians and Europeans were surprised the administration believes it can get Russia to sign off on Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine, given Moscow’s opposition to Ukraine joining NATO.
The official described the security guarantees as the “platinum standard” but would not provide details, other than saying no U.S. troops would be deployed in Ukraine. They also said the Ukrainians and Europeans were surprised by Trump’s commitments given the administration’s turn away from Europe.
European leaders issued a joint statement Monday offering details that include Ukraine having a peacetime army at 800,000 people and a European “multinational force” — supported by the U.S. — that will operate in Ukraine to help regenerate the country’s armed forces and provide air and sea defense.
The U.S. will also lead a ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism to provide early warning and a deconfliction mechanism.
In case of an armed attack, guarantees will include a legally binding commitment to take measures that “may include armed force, intelligence and logistical assistance, economic and diplomatic actions.”
The issues of territorial control are likely to be left for bilateral negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, the officials said, even as the White House is proposing “thought-provoking” ideas on how to halt fighting in contested areas.
Russia has called for Ukraine to retreat from areas of control in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine that Russian forces have failed to achieve militarily, while also asking for international recognition of territory it has seized since 2014.
And while Zelensky on Sunday rejected a U.S.-idea for an “economic free zone” in territory Russia has failed to acquire by military force, the U.S. official said a lot of time was spent “trying to define” what such a zone would be and how it would operate.
“And then ultimately, if we can get that defined, then it will really be up to the parties to work out the final issues of sovereignty and to see if there’s a deal that can be done between them,” the official said.
On the Zaporizhzhia power plant, which is controlled by Russia and located along the front lines in eastern Ukraine, the officials said there’s progress toward an agreement on 50/50 sharing of the power from the plant, but no resolution yet on who will operate the plant.
“There’s still a little bit of a gap between the Russians and the Ukrainians on how that should go, but at the end of the day, they both want it to be repaired and functioning in a good way, and providing energy,” the official said. “And it seems like we’re close to them agreeing to essentially a 50/50 split of the power, which would be, I think, a good outcome there.”
The White House is working on ways to bring Russia back into the global economy so it has “incentives not to go back to war in the future,” the official said, adding, “Hopefully they get focused on a different project in the future, which is really, economy and being part of the global world, which is possible.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration is developing plans to use roughly $200 billion of frozen Russian assets for projects in Ukraine, using the Zaporizhzhia power plant to help power a massive new data center, but also restarting Russian energy flows to Western Europe and the rest of the world and opportunities for U.S. companies to invest with Russia in strategic sectors such as rare earth extraction and drilling in the Arctic.
The U.S. officials said on the call that a key part of discussions with Ukrainians and Europeans was protecting Ukraine’s economy so it can fund its military to the size that would deter future Russian aggression.
Russia has launched a lawsuit against Euroclear, the Belgium-based financial institution holding the majority of the country’s frozen assets, as the European Union moved last week to indefinitely freeze the funds as it debates how to seize them to benefit Ukraine.
The U.S. officials added that the negotiators addressed “extensively” Russia’s frozen funds “how to try and find a way to use them for reconstruction in a way that hopefully can work through an agreement,” but did not provide further details.
