The officials said Trump believed he could get Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to the Article 5-like security guarantee for Ukraine, and noted the Europeans were “surprised” by their confidence on that matter.
“Hopefully, the Russians are going to look at it and say to themselves, ‘That’s OK because we have no intention … of violating’,” an official said.
Zelensky and Witkoff in Berlin.Credit: AP
The US officials did not say if the guarantee would be ratified like a treaty, but that Trump was prepared to seek Senate approval. He had been briefed twice during the negotiations and was supportive, they said.
The US delegation in Berlin is being led by White House peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. European leaders were expected to keep meeting into the night, and several reports suggested Trump would phone in from Washington.
Speaking to reporters amid the talks, Merz described the latest US offer as “really considerable”, and said it was the first time robust security guarantees from both Europe and the US were on the table.
In a subsequent post on X, he wrote: “For the first time since the war began, a ceasefire now seems possible.”
But high-stakes questions over territorial concessions remained unresolved. The US has repeatedly urged Kyiv to cede land to Moscow in ways that roughly reflect the current battle lines, while Russia has asked for territory it was unable to conquer by force.
For example, Moscow has pushed for full control of the Donbas region, of which Ukraine still holds about 10 to 18 per cent. The US has suggested it could be a demilitarised, free economic zone.
“Only Ukraine can decide about territorial concessions,” Merz said at a joint news conference with Zelensky. “No ifs or buts.”
A US official said negotiators in Berlin broke off into a working group to discuss territory, and drafted a three-page document on outstanding issues. There were “multiple different solutions to bridge the gap” between Ukrainian and Russian demands, they said, without providing details.
Zelensky called the progress substantial. He has recently offered to formally drop his demands for Ukraine to enter NATO – something the US and other NATO members have long rejected – if robust security guarantees for Ukraine were on offer.
The developments came as Ukrainian officials said their underwater drones struck and disabled a Russian Kilo-class attack submarine in the Russian navy’s most important remaining Black Sea base, in the first operation of its kind.
The strike carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) with its “Sub Sea Baby” drones hit the submarine in the port of Novorossiysk, where Russia has rebased many naval vessels to put them out of reach of Ukrainian strikes.
Footage published by the SBU showed a powerful explosion erupting from the water at a pier near where a submarine and other vessels were docked. Reuters confirmed the location of the video using the port’s layout and piers.
Moscow later denied Ukraine’s claims. “Not a single ship or submarine of the Black Sea fleet stationed in the bay of the Novorossiysk Naval Base, nor their crews, were damaged as a result of the sabotage and are serving as usual,” Russia’s Defence Ministry early on Tuesday (AEDT).
New MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli makes her first public speech.Credit: Getty Images
Meanwhile, the head of Britain’s MI6 spy agency on Monday, London time, accused Putin of stalling efforts to end on Ukraine and testing the West with tactics that fall “just below the threshold of war”.
Blaise Metreweli said Putin was determined to “subjugate Ukraine and harass NATO members”.
“We are now operating in a space between peace and war,” she said in her first public speech since becoming chief of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency two months ago.
With Reuters, AP
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