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The United States is offering Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years under a proposed peace plan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, while saying he would prefer a U.S. commitment of up to 50 years to deter Russia from further attempts to seize its neighbor’s land by force.
US President Donald Trump hosted Zelensky at his Florida resort on Sunday and insisted Ukraine and Russia are “closer than ever” to a peace deal.
Negotiators, however, are still seeking a breakthrough on key issues, including the location of the withdrawal of forces and the fate of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the world’s ten largest nuclear power plants. Trump stressed that the months-long negotiations under the leadership of the United States could still fail.
“In reality, without security guarantees, this war will not end,” Zelensky told reporters in voice messages responding to questions sent via a WhatsApp chat.
Ukraine has been fighting Russia since 2014, when it illegally annexed Crimea and Moscow-backed separatists took up arms in Donbass, a vital industrial region in eastern Ukraine.
WATCH | Territorial conflicts remain a thorny issue after the meeting between Zelensky and Trump:
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed optimism after meeting in Florida on Sunday for negotiations aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine. However, both acknowledged that thorny issues, including territorial disputes, remain.
Details of the security guarantees have not been made public, but Zelenskyy said Monday they include how a peace deal would be monitored, as well as the “presence” of partners. He did not give further details, but Russia said it would not accept the deployment of troops from NATO countries to Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump are expected to speak in the near future, but there is no indication the Russian leader would speak to Zelensky.
Russian troops advance in Ukraine, army chief says
General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of staff, said on Monday that Moscow’s forces were advancing into Ukraine along the entire front line, while kyiv’s forces were, in contrast, focused on defense and attempting to counterattack.
In a televised meeting with Putin and other senior military officials, Gerasimov reported that by 2025, Russian forces had captured 6,460 square kilometers of territory in Ukraine, including 334 villages.
Reuters could not independently verify reports from the battlefield.
French President Emmanuel Macron said kyiv’s allies would meet in Paris in early January to “finalize the concrete contributions of each country” to security guarantees.
Trump said he would consider extending U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine beyond 15 years, according to Zelenskyy. The safeguards would be approved by the US Congress, as well as the parliaments of other countries involved in overseeing any settlement, he said.
Zelensky said he wanted the 20-point peace plan under discussion to be approved by Ukrainians in a national referendum.
However, holding a vote requires a ceasefire of at least 60 days, and Moscow has shown no willingness to enter into a truce without a full settlement.
