US discusses stronger Ukraine security guarantees with allies

Kate Sullivan, Bloomberg News on Dec 31, 2025

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U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said he held a “productive call” with European leaders on the next steps in President Donald Trump’s efforts to bring a halt to Russia’s war in Ukraine, following new challenges in the peace negotiations this week.

Witkoff, in a post Wednesday on X, said that he along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, had discussed “advancing the next steps in the European peace process.”

The discussions touch on “strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not restart,” Witkoff said.

Security guarantees are a key sticking point in the negotiations, with Kyiv and European allies saying a strong deterrent is needed to ensure that Russia does not attack Ukraine again after a potential peace deal.

“We also spent time on the prosperity package for Ukraine — how to continue defining, refining, and advancing these concepts so Ukraine can be successful, resilient, and truly thrive once the war is over,” Witkoff added.

The U.S. officials were joined on the call by representatives from the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Witkoff said their discussions would continue in the new year.

Rustem Umerov, a top Ukrainian envoy, said he is preparing to organize a meeting with security officials from European partners and the U.S. for Jan. 3.

Wednesday’s call follows a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent weeks as Trump looks to secure an end to the war in Ukraine, a conflict he had pledged to halt on his first day back in office.

Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday in Florida with the two leaders expressing optimism about the peace negotiations, though the U.S. leader cautioned that there was still more work to do and that he was not operating on a timeline.

Zelenskyy told reporters that he had asked Trump for security guarantees that could last as long as half a century. Current proposals under discussion set out a 15-year term with the possibility for an extension.

Hopes for a deal were dealt a fresh blow on Monday after Trump spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who said that his country would revise its negotiating position and claimed that Ukrainian drones had targeted his residence.

Ukraine has denied the attack allegations, casting them as a Russian fabrication aimed at derailing the peace talks. Trump, though, told reporters earlier this week that he was “very angry” about the purported incident.

Ukrainian officials have toiled in recent weeks to revise a 28-point draft plan originally proposed by the U.S. but seen as overly favorable to Russia. The latest version has 20 points, but Moscow has warned that it includes elements it won’t accept, including on the size of Ukraine’s postwar military.

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