US and European officials agreed to provide Ukraine with NATO-style security guarantees, potentially overcoming a major hurdle to a flagging peace deal with Russia.
US President Donald Trump said a deal was now “closer than ever,” while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said there was now a small but “real chance” at peace. More talks are expected this week in the US.
Kyiv appears to have dropped its bid to join NATO, but remains steadfast in its ambition to become an EU member, a move that US officials said would not be opposed by Moscow. However, Russian officials were skeptical that a peace deal may be agreed quickly: A Kremlin spokesperson said predicting a timeline was a “thankless task.”