US offered Ukraine 15-year security guarantee, says Zelensky
The United States has offered Ukraine security guarantees lasting 15 years, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, following talks with Donald Trump on a revised peace plan in Florida on Sunday.
Speaking after the meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, Zelensky said an agreement on the guarantees was close, but added that Kyiv would prefer a longer commitment of up to 50 years. Trump said the deal was “close to 95%” complete.
Zelensky identified territorial questions and the future of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as the main unresolved issues, with little detail emerging on the fate of Ukraine’s contested Donbas region.
Russia has previously rejected key elements of the plan, but a Kremlin spokesman said on Monday that Moscow agreed with Trump’s assessment that peace was drawing nearer, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
Zelensky reiterated that an overall peace agreement was around 90% complete — a figure he had cited ahead of his visit — and stressed the importance of firm security guarantees.
“Without security guarantees, this war cannot be considered truly over. We cannot acknowledge that it has ended, because with such a neighbour there remains a risk of renewed aggression,” Zelensky said, according to Agence France-Presse.
He added that Ukraine wanted Washington to “consider the possibility of 30, 40, or 50 years” of guarantees, and said he hoped any security arrangements would take effect immediately upon the signing of a peace deal, Reuters reported.
The US has not commented publicly on the proposed timeframe. On Sunday, Trump said he expected European allies to assume “a big part” of the responsibility for Ukraine’s security, with continued support from Washington.
For Zelensky, two core issues remain unresolved: territorial arrangements and the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which lies in Russian-controlled territory.
Russia currently occupies around 75% of Ukraine’s Donetsk region and nearly all of neighbouring Luhansk — together known as the Donbas. Trump said after the meeting that the issue of Donbas remained “unresolved, but it’s getting a lot closer”.
The region has been a persistent stumbling block in negotiations, with Moscow unwilling to compromise on its aim to take full control. On Monday, the Kremlin again said Ukraine must withdraw its troops from the areas it still holds.
Ukraine has proposed that the territory could become a free economic zone under Ukrainian control, but Zelensky has stressed that any final decision must involve the Ukrainian people, Reuters reported.
Trump has repeatedly shifted his stance on Ukraine’s lost territories. In September, he surprised observers by suggesting Kyiv might be able to reclaim them, before later walking back those comments.
