Berlin talks: Zelensky sees 'real progress' as US offers security guarantees amid Russia conflict

Zelensky hails progress, territorial differences persist

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that his discussions in Berlin with US President Donald Trump’s envoys on ending the war with Russia were “not easy” but achieved “real progress” regarding security guarantees.

Zelensky met for a second consecutive day with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to discuss ways to end the conflict sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, building on a peace proposal initially suggested by Trump.

He welcomed the new security guarantees offered by Washington but noted that differences persisted over which territories Ukraine might have to cede to Russia.

“There has been sufficient dialogue on the territory, and I think that, frankly speaking, we still have different positions,” Zelensky told reporters.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed optimism, stating that the talks offered the “chance for a real peace process” and commended the US for proposing “substantial” security guarantees.

From Washington, Trump announced he would speak later Monday with Zelensky and a group of European leaders gathering in Berlin, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Also expected to attend were Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, along with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The United States said it had proposed robust, NATO-like security guarantees to Ukraine, expressing confidence that Russia would accept them, framing the offer as a potential breakthrough toward ending the war.

US officials described the hours of talks in Berlin as positive and said Trump in his call would seek to push forward the deal.

The US officials warned Ukraine must accept the deal, which they said would provide security guarantees in line with NATO's Article Five –- which calls an attack on one ally an attack on all.

"The basis of that agreement is basically to have really, really strong guarantees -- Article Five-like -- also a very, very strong deterrence" in the size of Ukraine's military, a US official said on condition of anonymity.

"Those guarantees will not be on the table forever. Those guarantees are on the table right now if there's a conclusion that's reached in a good way," he said.

Trump has previously ruled out a formal entry of Ukraine into NATO and sided with Russia in calling Kyiv's aspirations to the alliance a reason for the full-scale invasion by Moscow.

Merz said any ceasefire must be "secured by substantial legal and material security guarantees from the United States and Europe, which the United States has put on the table here in Berlin in terms of legal and material guarantees".

"This is truly remarkable. This is a very important step forward, which I very much welcome," he said.

Zelensky said about the talks with the US side that "these conversations are always not easy" but that it had been "a productive conversation".

An official briefed on the US-Ukrainian talks earlier told AFP that US negotiators still want Ukraine to cede control of the eastern Donbas -- made up of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

Moscow controls almost all of Lugansk and about 80 percent of the Donetsk region, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War.

Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants territory", said the official, adding that the United States was demanding that Ukraine "withdraw" from the regions and that Kyiv was refusing.

One of the US officials acknowledged that there was no agreement on territory.

Trump has called it inevitable that Ukraine would need to surrender territory to Russia, an outcome anathematic to Zelensky after his country's defence of nearly four years.

Russia, meanwhile, has signalled it will insist on its core demands, including on territory and on Ukraine never joining NATO.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia was expecting the United States to "provide us with the concept that is being discussed in Berlin today".

Merz vowed sustained support for Ukraine as it fights back against what he labelled "Putin's criminal attack".

"We will only be able to achieve lasting peace in Europe together, with a free and sovereign Ukraine, a strong Ukraine that can defend itself against Russian attacks now and in the future," he said.

"The fate of Ukraine is the fate of all Europe."

(With AFP inputs)