With Russia showing no let-up in its military offensive against Ukraine, US President Donald Trump’s offer of a "platinum" security guarantee for Kyiv in the event of a ceasefire being implemented could be the Ukrainians’ best hope of ending the bloodshed.
Meanwhile, Russia launched a massive combined drone and missile assault against a number of Ukrainian cities in the run-up to the Christmas holiday while negotiations continue between US, Ukrainian and Russian officials, with the latest reports indicating that it captured the eastern town of Siversk. This is regarded as a key strategic target in Russia’s attempts to capture the last remaining "fortress belt" cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, which still remain in Ukrainian hands in the industrial Donetsk region.
With the conflict about to mark its fourth year of unrelenting bloodshed, the latest move by the Trump administration aimed at resolving the dispute is for the US to provide Kyiv with NATO-style security guarantees.
The offer was made during the recent meeting of European powers in Berlin, where European leaders expressed concerns about Trump’s willingness to cede Ukrainian territory that Russia captured on the battlefield as a way to end the conflict. To reassure Europeans and Zelensky, US envoys made an unprecedented offer during face-to-face talks in Berlin, but later warned that the offer would not be on the table forever.
“We’re trying to get it done,” Trump said, after speaking to European leaders attending the Berlin summit. “We had numerous conversations with President Putin of Russia, and I think we’re closer now than we have ever been, and we’ll see what we can do,” Trump added.
