Zelenskyy: Five Documents in the Works, Some with Article 5–Style Guarantees
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that five documents are currently being prepared, some of which provide for legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine, including mechanisms mirroring NATO’s Article 5.
The Gaze reports this, referring to Zelenskyy’s comments to journalists.
After two days of intensive negotiations in Berlin with international partners, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced significant progress in shaping Ukraine’s political and security framework. According to him, the path to peace remains difficult due to the nature of the war, but that does not necessarily mean it will be long.
“The Americans want a fast end to the war; for us, quality within that speed is crucial. If speed and quality coincide, we are fully in favor,” the president said.
Zelenskyy reported that the meetings resulted in concrete agreements: five documents are currently being prepared, some of which relate to security guarantees for Ukraine.
These include legally binding mechanisms mirroring NATO’s Article 5 that must be approved by the US Congress. The president emphasized that a congressional vote is the key practical criterion for the credibility of these guarantees.
A separate block of talks focused on Ukraine’s recovery. The sides discussed the creation of a special fund, financing the reconstruction of infrastructure, energy and education, as well as compensation for internally displaced persons who lost their homes. According to the president, the amounts involved run into tens of billions of dollars.
“These are large sums, tens of billions of dollars. I think we will calculate somewhere around $70–80 billion. We raised this issue, and it is important that the Americans are receptive to it,” he said.
The issue of financial support for the families of fallen Ukrainian service members was also raised. Ukraine considers this a moral obligation, but is counting on partner support to accelerate the process.
Speaking about the security track, Zelenskyy stressed that Ukrainian and US military teams had worked through all parameters of future security guarantees in detail. He said the sides had come very close to strong security solutions and that the negotiations had advanced to the most difficult points of the framework 20-point agreement.
Commenting on discussions regarding Donbas, the president noted that Russia’s position remains unchanged — Moscow seeks to gain control over the region. At the same time, Ukraine’s position, according to Zelenskyy, is clear, practical and principled: Kyiv will not agree to give up Donbas and will not recognize Russian control over the temporarily occupied territories either de jure or de facto.
At the same time, ideas discussed with partners, including the format of a free economic zone, do not envisage any governance by the Russian Federation. However, the territorial issue remains one of the most complex and is still without a final consensus.
“There is no consensus on this issue yet. But on other issues, there is progress,” Zelenskyy said, referring in particular to advances on strong security guarantees, whose reliability is to be ensured by a vote in the US Congress.
As The Gaze reported earlier, negotiations between the Ukrainian and US delegations were held in Germany, beginning on Sunday and continuing through Monday. The talks reportedly included three to four rounds, some of which took place behind the scenes.
Following the negotiations, the American side indicated that around 90 percent of the issues had been agreed upon. At the same time, further rounds of talks are expected after Washington briefs the Russian side on the outcomes of the discussions.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that the next meeting with the US delegation could take place as early as next weekend, signaling the intention to maintain momentum in the negotiation process.
Read also on The Gaze: Why Donald Trump is Interested in a Quick, Not Quality, Completion of the War in Ukraine