Witkoff said it ‘was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.’
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff on Aug. 17 said that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed at Friday’s Alaska peace summit to allow U.S. and European allies to grant Ukraine security protections similar to NATO’s collective defense mandate as part of an impending deal to end the war.
“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,” Witkoff said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The special envoy added that it “was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.”
Speaking at a news conference in Brussels on Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, “We welcome President Trump’s willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine. and the ‘Coalition of the willing’—including the European Union—is ready to do its share.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
By Jacob Burg
