The U.S. is tying its security guarantees to Kyiv’s withdrawal from Donbas, the FT reports

The White House has signaled to the Ukrainian authorities that obtaining security guarantees depends on signing a peace agreement that includes relinquishing Donbas to Russia.

The Financial Times (FT) reports, citing eight sources familiar with the negotiations.

Washington also hinted to Kyiv that it would promise additional arms supplies for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in peacetime if Ukraine withdraws its troops from the parts of Donbas it currently controls.

According to FT, the U.S. suggested that American guarantees for Ukraine could include language similar to NATO’s collective-defense article—namely, a pledge of a coordinated military response in the event of a sustained attack. One FT interlocutor said the proposed guarantees might be too vague for Kyiv and too broad for Moscow.

A senior Ukrainian official told the newspaper that it remains unclear whether the United States will take on any obligations at all.

“They stop every time the security guarantees could be signed,” he explained.

According to FT’s sources, the Ukrainian authorities want specific guarantees before making any territorial concessions.

Zelensky’s office did not respond to FT’s questions. Unofficially, however, a source in Kyiv confirmed that the American side is “using the guarantees … to push Ukraine” toward concessions that could prompt “Russia to come to the negotiating table.” According to the source, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in Davos to revise the guarantees document, and this became one of the main reasons the agreement was never signed.

The White House has officially rejected the report, calling it an outright lie.

“It’s unfortunate that the Financial Times allows malicious actors to lie anonymously in order to undermine the peace process, which is in excellent shape after the historic trilateral meeting held this weekend in Abu Dhabi,” Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said.

Russia is demanding that Ukrainian forces leave the remaining areas of Donbas in order to end the conflict.

“Ukraine’s troops will leave the territories they occupy—and then the fighting will stop. If they don’t leave, then we will achieve this through military action,” President Vladimir Putin said.

Russia annexed Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in the autumn of 2022.

Ukrainian authorities insist that any withdrawal of troops in that region must be mutual.

“If we pull back 5 kilometers, then they pull back 5 kilometers. We pull back ten—and they pull back ten. And then there will be such a [demilitarized] zone,” Zelensky said.

After the Abu Dhabi talks, he again stated that Kyiv does not intend to abandon its claims to the territories, and that the United States must also be prepared to make compromises.