Russians made concessions ‘almost immediately,’ Trump envoy says of Putin summit

Russia gave in quickly to concessions during President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, Friday, according to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. 

The remarks come as the U.S. and European allies are sorting out various security guarantees to accompany a peace deal and after Witkoff said Sunday that Putin was on board with permitting the U.S. and its European allies to provide additional protection for Ukraine, akin to protections included in NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause.

“I don’t want to delve into the specifics of what was discussed because we’re in a negotiation, mediating, and I think we’re going to be very successful because of the leadership of President Trump,” Witkoff told Fox News Tuesday night. 

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“But there were concessions almost immediately made on the part of the Russians in the first meeting in Alaska,” Witkoff said. “And, you know, part of getting those concessions was learning whether we were going to be able to see the Russians prepared to be more accommodating.”

Historically, Russia has made demands that a peace deal include provisions to bar Ukraine from ever joining NATO, along with concessions on some of the borders that previously were Ukraine’s.

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Although Trump said Sunday that Ukraine could end the war by agreeing to certain land concessions to Russia and eliminating the possibility of NATO membership for Ukraine under a potential peace deal, the next step Trump and other European allies are working toward is hashing out security provisions for Ukraine under such a deal. 

That was a huge focus Monday, when Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders at the White House to discuss various security measures to prevent Russian aggression against Ukraine in the future. After the meetings, Trump said Tuesday that sending U.S. troops to Ukraine to beef up security in the region was off the table. 

“The president has definitively stated U.S. boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday. 

“The president understands security guarantees are crucially important to ensure a lasting peace, and he has directed his national security team to coordinate with our friends in Europe and also to continue to cooperate and discuss these matters with Ukraine and Russia as well.”

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Zelenskyy said U.S. backing on security guarantees is critical to delivering stability to Ukraine. 

“Security in Ukraine depends on the United States and on you and on those leaders who are with us in our hearts,” Zelenskyy said Monday.

“We spoke about it, and we will speak more about security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said. “This is very important that the United States gives such strong signal and is ready for security guarantees.”