US close to strongest ever Ukraine security guarantees in Russia peace deal that won’t ‘be on the table forever’: officials

President Trump and senior US officials said Monday they’re closing in on a sweeping peace framework to end the war in Ukraine — featuring “Article Five-like” security guarantees, a multibillion-dollar rebuilding plan, progress on tough territorial disputes, and a possible 50/50 split of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — but Kyiv has added that many key details remain unknown.

The goal, officials said, is to create a package that stops Russia from pushing further into Ukraine and gives Kyiv the strongest-ever shield against future aggression — with Trump touting the negotiations as being “closer now than ever.”

“President Trump’s very focused on reaching a conclusion to this conflict that really stops the Russians from moving west,” a senior US official told reporters Monday.

“Under President Bush, Russia moves west. Under President Obama, Russia moves west. Under President Biden, Russia moves west. President Trump really wants to see this as an agreement that ends that for good,” the official added.

The proposed NATO-style guarantees would include conflict monitoring, verification and enforcement mechanisms to prevent Russia from re-invading Ukraine.

“The basis of that agreement is basically to have really strong guarantees — Article Five-like — also very, very strong deterrence,” the official said.

Trump told reporters Monday that “Russia wants to get it ended” and officials have been engaged in conversations with President Vladimir Putin.

“The problem is they’ll want to get it ended, and then all of a sudden they won’t; and Ukraine will want to get it ended, and all of a sudden, they won’t,” the president said during an event honoring border enforcement officials.

“We’re getting closer,” Trump also said. “We’re having tremendous support from European leaders.”

Details are sparse, but officials said the package would require Senate approval — something Ukraine wants to avoid after a toothless deal like the 1994 Budapest Memorandum failed to prevent Russia’s incursions in 2014 and 2022.

“President Zelensky spoke about flaws in past agreements, and we discussed ways to make sure a future deal learns from those mistakes and leads to a proper, enduring agreement,” the official said.

Trump is willing to go the congressional route — but warned the offer is not open-ended.

“Those guarantees will not be on the table forever,” the official said, urging Kyiv to act swiftly.

A second official called the security guarantees package the strongest the US has proposed over nearly a year of peace talks.

“Anything we felt needed to make the Ukrainian people feel safe is included in this package,” the official said.

Despite the optimistic words, solid details on the guarantees — which are central to Kyiv being able to comfortably make concessions — remain unclear even to Ukrainian officials.

Zelensky in a post to X said “before taking any steps on the battlefield, both the military and the civilian population must have a clear understanding of what the security guarantees will be.”

“We are working on putting all of this on paper right now, and there is progress,” he said. “The details developed by the military part looks quite solid, even though this is only the first draft.”

Still, the Ukrainian president echoes some of the optimism expressed by the senior US officials, with Zelensky thanking the US for taking Ukraine’s needs into consideration. 

“It is very important that our counterparts from the United States of America heard all the details regarding the war,” he said. “If these meetings had taken place earlier, the progress would have been even greater. But I am grateful that we truly worked very well together.”

That change comes after the Trump administration stopped attempting shuttle diplomacy by sending different envoys to speak with Russia and Ukraine separately, and the addition of Kushner to the negotiating team.

Still, he said that “there are some things that, in my view, are destructive and would definitely not help us.”

“It is important that they are no longer present in the new versions of the documents,” he said, without giving details. “This matters, because dignity matters.”

The news comes as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner wrapped up marathon talks with Ukrainian and European officials since Saturday — including eight hours with President Zelensky.

The Berlin talks included national security advisers and foreign ministers from Germany, the UK, France, and other European nations. Officials said the Europeans “dug in” and were outstanding in trying to end the conflict.

“I would assess that it was really, really positive in almost every respect,” one official said, adding that Trump is “really pleased with where we are today.”

Territory remains the sticking point. Russia wants Ukraine to pull forces out of the Donbas — including the roughly 30% of Donetsk Oblast that Moscow has failed to occupy in more than 11 years.

Zelensky acknowledged that Ukraine still has “different positions [than] Russia regarding territories, saying they “must be acknowledged and discussed openly.”

“I believe that the American side, acting as a mediator, will propose various steps to try to find at least some form of consensus,” he said.

“We will do everything possible to find clear answers to questions about security guarantees, territories, and money as compensation for Ukraine to rebuild. It is necessary to understand the source of this funding.”

Military-to-military consultations will continue next week to hammer out details, a Ukrainian official said. “We brainstormed options, including an economic free zone, and tried to define how it would operate,” a US official said.

Officials also discussed ways to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction, though details remain under discussion.

They moved closer to an agreement on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which Russia has occupied since early in the invasion. “

“There’s still a gap on how it should be operated,” one official said, “but both sides want it repaired and functioning.”

“And it seems we’re close to a 50/50 split of the power plant,” the official added. “That would be a good outcome for Ukraine’s energy security.”

If finalized, the package would combine the toughest-ever US security guarantees with a multibillion-dollar reconstruction plan and shared control of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant — a high-stakes framework designed to lock in peace, rebuild the country and finally halt Russia’s westward expansion.

While the Kremlin has yet to weigh in, the senior US officials said they believed Russia would accept the plan.

Read more: US close to strongest ever Ukraine security guarantees in Russia peace deal that won't 'be on the table forever': officials | New York Post

Trump: Classifying Fentanyl as 'Weapon of Mass Destruction'

President Donald Trump said Monday he was classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, ramping up his administration's campaign against drug cartels in Latin America.

"No bomb does what this is doing — 200-300,000 people die every year, that we know of," Trump said at the signing of an executive order that placed fentanyl in the same category as nuclear and chemical weapons.

In 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an estimated total of about 80,000 overdose deaths in the country, with some 48,000 of those due to synthetic opioids.

The executive order said "illicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic" and that it "threatens our national security and fuels lawlessness in our hemisphere and at our borders."

The fentanyl classification ties in with the Trump administration's war against alleged "narco-terrorists," which has included a military campaign targeting alleged drug-smuggling boats with strikes that have left nearly 90 people dead since early September.

While Trump argues that destroying each of the more than 20 intercepted vessels saves 25,000 American lives, critics note that the boats were likely carrying cocaine rather than fentanyl — the synthetic opioid driving the overdose crisis — which is overwhelmingly smuggled across the southern border from Mexico, not by sea from Colombia or Venezuela.

Trump has accompanied the strikes with a massive military buildup in the Caribbean that includes the world's largest aircraft carrier and a slew of other warships, while a string of U.S. military aircraft have flown along Venezuela's coast in recent weeks.

While Trump and his administration say the target of the military buildup is drug trafficking, Venezuela's leftist leader Nicolas Maduro accuses Washington of using narcotics smuggling as a pretext for regime change in Caracas.

The United States has sought to link the two issues, accusing Maduro of leading the alleged "Cartel of the Suns," which it declared a "narco-terrorist" organization last month, and offering a $50 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Read more : Trump: Classifying Fentanyl as 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' | Newsmax.com