Trump 'really pleased' with progress on Ukraine peace deal, 90% of issues resolved: US official

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump is "really pleased" with the progress made towards an agreement on a Ukraine peace deal during talks in Europe, a US official said Monday.

The official, who was one of two who participated in the negotiations and briefed reporters on their progress, said "literally 90% of the issues between Ukraine and Russia" have been resolved, but acknowledged that "there's some more things that have to be worked out."

"We've moved considerably closer in narrowing the issues between the Ukrainians and the Russians. That's clear," the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing talks, said. "We've got multiple different solutions to bridge the gap between the parties that we're suggesting to them."

The other official said the basis of security guarantees that will be provided to Ukraine under the terms of a peace deal are "Article Five-like" assurances for Kyiv that will serve as "very strong deterrence." He was referring to NATO's collective defense article.

"The Europeans expressed a lot of appreciation for President Trump's willingness to lean into this issue and to offer such guarantees. Those guarantees will not be on the table forever. Those guarantees are on the table right now, if there's a conclusion that's reached in a good way, and President Trump's very focused on reaching a conclusion to this conflict that really stops the Russians from moving west," the official said.

Trump "believes he can get Russia to accept" the Article Five-like assurances, the other official added.