White House signals strong momentum toward peace in Ukraine but many questions linger

President Donald Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff — one of three American participants in Friday’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin — described on Sunday several major agreements reached during the Alaska talks that he said created strong momentum toward a peace agreement with Ukraine.

Witkoff told CNN that Putin had signed off on allowing “robust” security guarantees as part of an eventual peace accord, including a provision that would provide for a collective defense of Ukraine by the United States and Europe should Russia attempt another invasion.

“We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as game changing,” Witkoff told Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” adding the Russians had also pledged “legislative enshrinement” of a promise not to invade Ukraine or another European country in any forthcoming peace plan.

Neither provision has been mentioned in Russian accounts of the summit.

Witkoff’s public description of Friday’s summit was the most fulsome yet of what was discussed for nearly three hours behind closed doors in Anchorage. Trump will meet Monday at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and several European leaders to discuss the matter in more detail.

Still, many questions remained about how the US is assessing Putin’s seriousness about reaching a deal, whether his promises can be trusted after a track record of violating previous peace agreements and what exactly Trump is willing to offer to ensure Ukraine isn’t invaded again.

Heading into Friday’s meeting, Trump said he would be disappointed if a ceasefire wasn’t reached and threatened “severe” consequences on Russia if Putin didn’t end the fighting.

But as he departed, Trump said he was no longer aiming for an immediate ceasefire and declared “we don’t have to think” about sanctions after the talks.

Witkoff said significant progress during the summit led Trump to abandon his push for an immediate ceasefire and instead work toward advancing a larger peace agreement.