Volodymyr Zelenskyy says U.S. offered a 15-year security guarantee as part of peace plan

PALM BEACH, Florida — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday the U.S. has offered him a security commitment of 15 years as part of a proposed peace agreement to end his country’s conflict with Russia.

However, Mr. Zelenskyy said he would prefer America offer a security guarantee of up to 50 years to deter further attempts by Russia to seize Ukrainian land.

“Without security guarantees, realistically, this war will not end,” Mr. Zelenskyy told reporters in voice messages responding to questions sent via a WhatsApp chat, according to The Associated Press.

“We have been at war for almost 15 years, and therefore we would very much like the guarantees to be longer,” Mr. Zelensky said he told Mr. Trump. “And I told him that we would very much like to consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years, and that this would then be a historic decision by President Trump.”

Mr. Zelenskyy’s comments came after a three-hour meeting Sunday with Mr. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The Ukrainian president said his American counterpart would consider extending the U.S. security guarantee for Ukraine beyond 15 years, but any such commitment would need to be approved by Congress, as well as by parliaments in other countries that would participate in a security agreement.

Speaking with reporters on Sunday, neither president spelled out what the security guarantee would look like.

“There will be a security agreement, it’ll be a strong agreement and the European nations are very much involved,” Mr. Trump said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Ukraine’s European allies will meet in January to “finalize each country’s concrete contributions” to the security pact.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelenskyy said Sunday that they are close to a deal to end the war in Ukraine, estimating that they are in agreement on 95% of a 20-point peace plan. However, both men acknowledged that there were some sticking points and refused to put a timeline on the deal.

Mr. Trump acknowledged that the fate of the eastern Donbas region remains a tricky issue to solve. Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded the entire Donbas region, including areas that Russia’s army does not now control. Mr. Zelenskyy has been steadfast in his insistence that he will not give up any territory as part of a peace deal.

“We’re getting closer to an agreement on that. And that’s a big issue,” Mr. Trump said. “Certainly, that’s one of the big issues, and I think we’re closer.”

There is no indication that Moscow would approve the peace plan, and Russian forces have continued to attack Kyiv with drones and missiles, even as Russia’s negotiators meet with teams from the U.S. and Ukraine.

Mr. Putin has repeatedly rejected proposals for ceasefires and has refused to meet with Mr. Zelenskyy, deriding him as an illegitimate president. He has not budged from his demands for large swaths of Ukrainian territory and has opposed the idea of European and U.S. peacekeepers.