US discusses stronger Ukraine security guarantees with allies

WASHINGTON – US 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.

Mr Witkoff, in a Dec 31 post on social media platform X, said that he, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mr Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law, had discussed “advancing the next steps in the European peace process”.

The discussions touched on “strengthening security guarantees and developing effective de-confliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not restart”, Mr Witkoff said. 

Security guarantees are a key sticking point in the negotiations, with Kyiv and European allies saying a strong deterrent was needed to ensure 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,” Mr Witkoff said.

The US officials were joined on the call by representatives from Britain, Germany and France. Mr Witkoff said their discussions would continue in the new year.

Mr Rustem Umerov, a top Ukrainian envoy, said he was preparing to organise a meeting with security officials from European partners and the US for Jan 3.

The Dec 31 call follows a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent weeks as Mr 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.

Mr Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Dec 28 in Florida, with

the two leaders expressing optimism

about the peace negotiations, though the US leader cautioned that there was still more work to do and that he was not operating on a timeline.

Mr Zelensky told reporters that he had asked Mr 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 of an extension.

Hopes for a deal were dealt a fresh blow on Dec 29 after Mr Trump spoke to 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. Mr 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 US but seen as overly favourable to Russia.

The latest version has 20 points, but Moscow has warned that it includes elements it will not accept, including on the size of Ukraine’s post-war military.

Six wounded in Russian attacks

Overnight Russian attacks wounded six people in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, including three children, the Ukrainian city’s military administration said on Dec 31.

“Drones attacked the residential, logistical and energy infrastructure of our region,” Mr Oleh Kiper, Odesa’s military administration regional head, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Two children aged eight and 14 were wounded in the attack, as well as a seven-month-old baby, Mr Serhiy Lysak, head of the city’s military administration, said in a separate Telegram post.

A 42-year-old man was also wounded and is in “serious condition”, he added. In his latest update on Dec 31, he put the overall toll at six.

He said residential, logistical and energy infrastructure was targeted, and parts of Odesa lost heating and water supplies.

Elsewhere, Russian drones wounded two men in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Mr Vladyslav Gaivanenko, its military administration head, said on Telegram. BLOOMBERG, AFP