US offering Ukraine 15-year security guarantee as part of peace plan – Zelensky

The US is offering Ukraine security guarantees for 15 years as part of a proposed peace plan, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

The Ukrainian president said he would prefer a commitment of up to 50 years to deter Russia from further attempts to seize its neighbour’s land by force.

US President Donald Trump hosted Mr Zelensky at his Florida resort on Sunday and claimed Ukraine and Russia were “closer than ever before” to a peace settlement.

Negotiators are still searching for a breakthrough on key issues, including whose forces withdraw from where and the fate of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the 10 biggest in the world.

Mr Trump noted that the months-long US-led negotiations could still collapse.

“Without security guarantees, realistically, this war will not end,” Mr Zelensky told reporters.

Ukraine has been fighting Russia since 2014 when Moscow illegally annexed Crimea and Kremlin-backed separatists took up arms in the Donbas, a vital industrial region in eastern Ukraine.

Details of the security guarantees have not been made public but Mr Zelensky said on Monday that they include how a peace deal would be monitored as well as the “presence” of partners.

He did not elaborate, but Russia has said it will not accept the deployment in Ukraine of troops from Nato countries.

Mr Trump on Monday had “a positive call” with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X.

The two leaders had also spoken ahead of Mr Trump’s talks with Mr Zelensky on Sunday as the American president tries to steer the countries towards a settlement.

Mr Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Mr Trump is pushing Ukraine to seek a comprehensive peace agreement and not demand a temporary respite for its military through a ceasefire.

Mr Putin has also insisted on a full settlement before any truce.

In Monday’s call, Mr Putin told Mr Trump that Ukraine attempted to attack the Russian leader’s residence in north-western Russia with long-range drones almost immediately after Mr Trump’s Sunday talks with Mr Zelensky.

The attack “certainly will not be left without a serious response”, Mr Ushakov said, adding that Moscow will now review its negotiating position.

Mr Zelensky denied the Russian claim of an attack, describing it as an attempt to manipulate the peace process.

He said it was “another lie” and came about because Moscow is unnerved by progress in peace efforts.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Ukraine launched an attack on Mr Putin’s residence in the northwestern Novgorod region overnight from Sunday to Monday using 91 long-range drones.

As indications suggest negotiations could come to a head in January, before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine on February 24 2022, Mr Putin on Monday claimed that Russian troops are advancing in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine and are also pressing their offensive in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Mr Putin has sought to portray himself as negotiating from a position of strength as Ukrainian forces strain to keep back the bigger Russian army.

He also emphasised at a meeting with senior military officers the need to create military buffer zones along the Russian border.

“This is a very important task as it ensures the security of Russia’s border regions,” the Russian president said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Mr Putin and Mr Trump were expected to speak in the near future but there was no indication the Russian leader would speak to Mr Zelensky.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Kyiv’s allies will meet in Paris in early January to “finalise each country’s concrete contributions” to the security guarantees.

Mr Trump said he would consider extending US security guarantees for Ukraine beyond 15 years, according to Mr Zelensky. The guarantees would be approved by the US Congress as well as by parliaments in other countries involved in overseeing any settlement, he added.

Mr Zelensky said he wants the 20-point peace plan under discussion to be approved by Ukrainians in a national referendum.

However, holding a ballot requires a ceasefire of at least 60 days, and Moscow has shown no willingness for a truce without a full settlement.

On the snowy streets of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, people were sceptical about the chances of peace.

One military veteran who uses the call sign Sensei, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military, said Mr Putin’s record in power shows he cannot be trusted.

Sensei joined the military in 2022 and was wounded that year during the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Now, he said, almost nobody from his company is still alive.

“But all these sacrifices, they are not in vain, because we need to prove… that we exist, that we are, that we have the right to our existence, to our territory, to our culture, to our language,” the 65-year-old told The Associated Press.

Denys Shpylovyi, a 20-year-old student who was home for the holidays, said Mr Trump’s willingness to accept Mr Putin’s arguments has put Mr Zelensky in a difficult situation.

“But I’m thankful for some progress. They are speaking, and maybe someday there will be hope,” he said.

Oleh Saakian, a Ukrainian political scientist, said it was a good sign that Mr Zelensky is managing to build a relationship with Mr Trump, although he noted that “nothing has been adopted yet, nothing has been signed yet”.

“I don’t see these negotiations bringing us closer to real peace, because they are based on equality between the aggressor and the victim, they are based on complete disregard for international law, and… disregard for European security,” he said.