BERLIN: US President Donald Trump said Monday that a deal to end Russia&#39;s war in Ukraine was closer than ever, as European leaders proposed a &quot;multinational force&quot; to enforce a potential peace accord. The upbeat remarks came as key powers met in Berlin with Ukraine&#39;s President Volodymyr Zelensky to push forward efforts to end the war -- although Russia had yet to react to the latest proposals. &quot;I think we&#39;re closer now than we have ever been,&quot; Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that he had &quot;very long and very good talks&quot; with Zelensky and others, including the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and NATO. The European leaders, in a joint statement at the Berlin talks, proposed a force as part of US-backed &quot;robust security guarantees&quot; aimed at guaranteeing that Russia would not violate an agreement to end the war, which started with Moscow&#39;s 2022 full-scale invasion. Zelensky said earlier that talks with Trump&#39;s envoys were &quot;not easy&quot; but brought &quot;progress&quot; on the question of security guarantees. He met for a second day with Trump&#39;s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president&#39;s son-in-law Jared Kushner for talks aimed at ending the war, building on a proposal initially put forward by Trump. Zelensky hailed new security guarantees offered by Washington but also said differences remained on the question of what territories Ukraine would have to cede to Russia. &quot;There has been sufficient dialogue on the territory, and I think that, frankly speaking, we still have different positions,&quot; Zelensky told reporters. - US security guarantees -An upbeat German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the talks had created the &quot;chance for a real peace process&quot; and praised the US for offering &quot;substantial&quot; security guarantees. The European statement -- whose signatories included the leaders of Britain, France and Germany -- also outlined what it said were other points of agreement between the European leaders and US officials. Ukraine&#39;s military should continue receiving extensive support and maintain a peacetime strength of 800,000 troops, it said. Peace would also be maintained by a &quot;US-led ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism&quot; that would identify violations and &quot;provide early warning of any future attack&quot;. US officials warned Ukraine must accept the deal, which they said would provide security guarantees in line with NATO&#39;s Article Five -- which calls an attack on one ally an attack on all. &quot;The basis of that agreement is basically to have really, really strong guarantees -- Article Five-like -- also a very, very strong deterrence&quot; in the size of Ukraine&#39;s military, a US official said on condition of anonymity. &quot;Those guarantees will not be on the table forever. Those guarantees are on the table right now if there&#39;s a conclusion that&#39;s reached in a good way,&quot; he said. Trump has previously ruled out a formal entry of Ukraine into NATO and sided with Russia in calling Kyiv&#39;s aspirations to the alliance a reason for the full-scale invasion by Moscow. Merz said &quot;substantial legal and material security guarantees&quot; from the United States were &quot;truly remarkable&quot; and &quot;a very important step forward&quot;. - &#39;Criminal attack&#39; -Zelensky said of the talks with the US side that &quot;these conversations are not always easy&quot; but that it had been &quot;a productive conversation&quot;. An official briefed on the US-Ukrainian talks earlier told AFP that US negotiators still want Ukraine to cede control of the eastern Donbas -- made up of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Moscow controls almost all of Lugansk and about 80 percent of the Donetsk region, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War. Russian President Vladimir Putin &quot;wants territory&quot;, said the official, adding that the United States was demanding that Ukraine &quot;withdraw&quot; from the regions and that Kyiv was refusing. One of the US officials acknowledged that there was no agreement on territory. Trump has called it inevitable that Ukraine would need to surrender territory to Russia, an outcome unacceptable to Zelensky. Russia, meanwhile, has signalled it will insist on its core demands, including on territory and on Ukraine never joining NATO. Moscow has previously objected to any European-led force in Ukraine to police a peace agreement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia was expecting the United States to &quot;provide us with the concept that is being discussed in Berlin today&quot;.

Europe

US President Donald Trump said a Ukraine peace deal was closer than ever as European leaders proposed a multinational force and security guarantees, while Kyiv and Washington acknowledged progress but divisions over territory remained

Trump says Ukraine deal close, Europe proposes peace force

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump&rsquo;s special envoy will meet with Ukraine&#39;s Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders in Berlin this weekend, the White House said, as Washington presses for a plan to end Russia&rsquo;s war with Kyiv. A White House official on Friday confirmed to AFP the accuracy of a Wall Street Journal report that envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Zelensky and European leaders over the weekend to discuss the status of peace negotiations. Germany&rsquo;s government has said Berlin will host the leaders, including the heads of the European Union and NATO, next Monday in the hours after Zelensky attends a German-Ukrainian business forum with Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Washington has been stepping up pressure on Kyiv to reach an agreement. Updated plan&nbsp;Ukrainian officials said they recently sent Washington an updated plan building on Trump&rsquo;s original 28-point peace proposal to end the war that began when Russia launched a large-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. Trump&#39;s plan, publicly revealed last month, was accused of echoing Moscow&#39;s key demands, including Ukraine giving up crucial territory to Russia. The idea of a speedy accession by Ukraine into the European Union -- a move opposed by Moscow -- is included in the latest version of a US-led plan to end the war. &lsquo;Security guarantees&rsquo;Ukraine would join the EU as early as January 2027 under the latest US plan, a senior source familiar with the matter told AFP on Friday. Meanwhile, Europeans and Ukrainians are asking the United States to provide them with &ldquo;security guarantees&rdquo; before Ukraine negotiates any territorial concessions, the French presidency said on Friday.

A White House official on Friday confirmed to AFP the accuracy of a Wall Street Journal report that Witkoff will meet with Zelensky and European leaders over the weekend to discuss the status of peace negotiations.

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Trump says Ukraine deal close, Europe proposes peace force

US envoy Witkoff to meet Zelensky, Europe leaders in Berlin at weekend