Posted on 08/17/2025 10:16:18 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Russia's Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the United States and its European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO’s collective defense mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war in Ukraine, special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday.
“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," he told CNN's “State of the Union.” He added that it “was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that” and called them “game-changing.”
Article 5, at the heart of the 32-member military alliance, states that an armed attack against one or more of the members shall be considered an attack against all members.
Witkoff, who had joined Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the talks Friday at a military base in Alaska, offered few details on how such an agreement would work. But it appeared to be a major shift for Putin and could serve as a workaround to his long-standing objection to Ukraine's potential NATO membership.
Outlining some of the details about the private discussions, Witkoff also said Russia had agreed to enact a law that it would not "go after any other European countries and violate their sovereignty. And there was plenty more.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, applauded the move. "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,” she said.
Zelenskyy thanked the United...
(Excerpt) Read more at scrippsnews.com ...
So how is that different from letting Ukraine join NATO outright ? Does the name NATO bother him ?
In case you hadn't heard, words mean things.
I simply don’t believe this. Russia will not accept Ukraine being admitted into NATO largely because of Article 5. So “Article 5-ish” is okay? Something is being intentionally misrepresented here.
The much thornier issue will be the land swaps: Putin is offering the small parts of the Sumy and Kharkov oblasts he occupies in exchange for the remainder of Donetsk. Hard to see the Ukrainians accepting that. A better deal would be all of Donetsk in exchange for the currently occupied parts of Zaporizhia and Kherson oblasts, with water rights for Crimea restored and maybe free-passage of trains to Crimea through Ukrainian territory.
That’s a good question. The answer is actually to Ukraine’s favor.
NATO rules does not allow membership if an applicant country does not have control of all of its territory and there is no conflict for it. So Russia allowing something vague like this provides something to Ukraine it could not have otherwise, since it will always claim territory it has no control over.
In a general sense Russia can pass this law prohibiting attacks westward for the two obvious reasons that they would not want to deal with all those violent Muslim refugees whose population is now growing via birthrate as well as influx.
And of course, the realities of running short of oil and gas after all other sources. They will dominate Europe in an inevitable way, without use of military force.
NATO has never been a threat to Russia and Putin knows that: until 2022, the Europeans had been basically disarming themselves. Any NATO attack would require unanimity a political impossibility) plus a couple of million men in fully equipped and trained divisions (a physical impossibility).
“Putin agreed to let US, Europe offer NATO-style security protections for Ukraine, Trump envoy says”
The Russians like Witkoff, so I expect them to give Witkoff a friendly phone call to CLARIFY things.
Your #7:... very good points.
Oh, this is not that extreme.
A NATO-like security guarantee calls forth troops if there is an attack. The tripwire force could be as small as 100 guys.
Certainly not 10s of thousands of troops preparing to invade the Donbas. Just some token number of guys who are there to get killed in an attack and trigger a response.
The real interesting part will be when the EU refuses to accept such a thing because Trump will tell them that yes, the security is guaranteed. A tripwire is triggered for EU forces to immediately confront Russian troops.
The EU will refuse this. They will say, it is US troops that have to respond. Not EU troops.
There is no chance Trump is going to offer Article 5 protection to Ukraine because there is no scenario where risk getting us involved in a hot war with Russia.
And the Euros should bear most of the security responsibility not us.
Something to think about.
Putin may be open to this “NATO style” security agreement IF IF IF Trump has said this arrangement we will not put US troops on the ground in the Ukraine.
In other words, Putin will “honor” the agreement as long as Trump in office.
When Trump leaves office, Putin will do whatever he wants and put the future POTUS in a bind.
Since there are NO American troops on the ground, does the new guy or gal put troops on the ground.
Personally, I have no problem with that arrangement.
Peace in the middle of Europe is very temporal and very fragile.
RE: in case you hadn’t heard, words mean things.
I know several couples who have lived together for several years, have children, have joint bank accounts and are in each other’s respective wills, BUT ARE NOT OFFICIALLY MARRIED, not in church or even in a civil wedding.
Similarly, I guess that’s what Ukraine not officially joining NATO but enjoying NATO-style security means…
I agree this idea will likely collapse once they try to work out details.
Friend with benefits?
100% correct. The fog of the fake MSM
NATO membership was a red line, security guarantees were not. Security guarantees are something Ukraine cannot survive without, as Russia would just be back in 5 or 10 years to take Kharkiv, Kherson and Odesa. Lather, rinse, repeat until Russia shares a border with Poland.
But I suspect there are details that will make security guarantees toothless. Like limiting Ukraine's ability to defend herself. "Disarming" Ukraine has been a stated Russian goal from the beginning. Guarantees or not, if Ukraine doesn't have a robust military force to resist a future invasion, no one is going to rush in to fight for them.
I’m pretty sure there is an exclusion of moving missiles within a 5 minute flight time to Moscow in this proposal. Defense, sure... Offense, no
What is it about NATO membership that makes it a red line ? Clearly it's not the security guarantees.
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