Trump administration officials have provided few details about what concessions the Russians may have offered at the negotiations in Alaska on Friday, but speaking to CNN on Sunday morning, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff described the Trump-Putin meeting as “game-changing.” Witkoff said the Trump administration would likely discuss Ukraine exchanging territory with Russia, what he called a “fundamental issue” for the Russians, but the administration would not make any decisions for Ukraine when it came to territory. The Trump administration says that Russian negotiators indicated they would agree to allow Ukraine to sign a future security agreement with the U.S. and European allies—one that would offer similar protections like those outlined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the document that forms the basis of NATO. Article 5 guarantees that if one NATO member is attacked, it is considered an attack on all member states, and all member states are compelled to take necessary action to “restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.” Witkoff told Tapper the administration got the Russians to agree to allow the U.S. and European nations to “effectively offer Article 5-like language to cover a security guarantee.” However, he was adamant that this would not amount to Ukraine actually joining NATO—something he said the Russians still viewed as a “red flag.” The special envoy did not elaborate on the details of the guarantee.
Author: Zachary Folk, Forbes Staff, Zachary Folk, Forbes Staff https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/
Published at: 2025-08-17 20:52:11
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