Sanctions, territory swaps, and security guarantees. The White House made a series of statements about negotiations with Ukraine and Russia

On August 17, the administration of the US President Donald Trump made a number of statements regarding negotiations with Ukraine and Russia.

The US President Donald Trumpʼs special representative Steve Witkoff said in an interview with CNN:

• Trump and Putin agreed on “robust security guarantees”, such as “protection by the United States under Article 5”. But Ukraine’s accession to NATO is a “red flag” for Putin.
• Putin agreed to “legislate” in a potential peace agreement that Russia would not have the right to enter any other territory, either in Ukraine or elsewhere in Europe.
• The issue of exchanging territories under Ukrainian control will be discussed tomorrow at the meeting between Trump and Zelensky.
• “Moscow has made concessions regarding five regions of Ukraine [...] The concessions that Russia has agreed to are that it will not absorb all of Ukraine”.

The Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with NBC:

• Ukraine and Russia will both have to make concessions to reach a peace agreement.
• The US is working to provide security guarantees for Ukraine — Russia must understand this Ukrainian demand.
• The US is not pushing Ukraine to give up territories. If there is a peace agreement, it will not look like this.
• "The only way to end this war is to force Russia to agree to a peace deal. Once you impose new sanctions, your ability to bring them to the negotiating table is diminished."

President Trump also wrote on Truth Social about "great progress on Russia" and urged people to follow the updates.

• Zelensky and Trump will meet at the White House on August 17. The meeting will be attended by European leaders. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have already confirmed their participation.
• Trump and Putin held three-on-three talks on August 15. The meeting lasted about three hours, after which the US president and the Kremlin leader made brief statements, but did not answer journalistsʼ questions. The leaders did not make any significant statements about the ceasefire in Ukraine and related issues.
• Reuters, citing sources, published Putinʼs demands. Among them are the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbas, a ban on joining NATO, and the lifting of sanctions against Russia. In return, Russia allegedly agrees to freeze the front, return the occupied parts of Sumy and Kharkiv regions, and agree to certain security guarantees for Ukraine.

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