US officials say Washington has agreed to give Ukraine security guarantees in peace talks

BERLIN (AP) — The U.S. has agreed to provide unspecified security guarantees to Ukraine as part of a peace deal to end Russia's nearly four-year war, and more talks are likely this weekend, U.S. officials said Monday following the latest discussions with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin.

The officials said talks with President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, led to narrowing differences on security guarantees that Kyiv said must be provided, as well as on Moscow’s demand that Ukraine concede land in the Donbas region in the country’s east.

Trump dialed into a dinner Monday evening with negotiators and European leaders, and more talks are expected this weekend in Miami or elsewhere in the United States, according to the U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly by the White House.

“I think we’re closer now than we have been, ever,” Trump told reporters at an unrelated White House event. He added, “We’re having tremendous support from European leaders. They want to get it ended, also."

The U.S. officials said the offer of security guarantees won’t be on the table “forever.” They said the Trump administration plans to put forward the agreement on guarantees for Senate approval, although they didn’t specify whether it would be ratified like a treaty, which needs the chamber's two-thirds approval.

In a statement, European leaders in Berlin said they and the U.S. committed to work together to provide “robust security guarantees,” including a European-led ”multinational force Ukraine" supported by the U.S.

They said the force's work would include "operating inside Ukraine" as well as assisting in rebuilding Ukraine's forces, securing its skies and supporting safer seas. They said Ukrainian forces should remain at a peacetime level of 800,000.

Witkoff and Kushner were accompanied by U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who heads NATO's military operations and the U.S. European Command, as talks honed in on the particulars of what the U.S. officials described as an “Article 5-like” security agreement. Article Five in the NATO treaty is the collective defense clause stating that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

The U.S. side presented the Ukrainians a document that spelled out in greater specificity aspects of the proposed U.S. security guarantees — something that Ukrainian officials said was missing from earlier iterations of the U.S. peace proposal, according to U.S. officials.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called it a “truly far-reaching, substantial agreement that we did not have before, namely that both Europe and the U.S. are jointly prepared to do this.”

Questions over Ukraine's postwar security and the fate of occupied territories have been the main obstacles in talks. Zelenskyy has emphasized that any Western security assurances would need to be legally binding and supported by the U.S. Congress. Meanwhile, Russia has said it will not accept any troops from NATO countries being based on Ukrainian soil.

Zelenskyy on Monday called the talks “substantial” and noted that differences remain on the issue of territory.

Zelenskyy has expressed readiness to drop Ukraine’s bid to join NATO if the U.S. and other Western nations give Kyiv security guarantees similar to those offered to NATO members. But Ukraine’s preference remains NATO membership as the best security guarantee to prevent further Russian aggression.

Ukraine has continued to reject the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control as a key condition for peace.

The U.S. officials on Monday said there is consensus on about 90% of the U.S.-authored peace plan, and that Russia has indicated it is open to Ukraine joining the European Union, something it previously said it did not object to.

The Russian president has cast Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, however, as a major threat to Moscow’s security and a reason for launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine renounce the bid for alliance membership as part of any prospective peace settlement.

Asked whether the negotiations could be over by Christmas, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said trying to predict a potential time frame for a peace deal was a “thankless task.”

“I can only speak for the Russian side, for President Putin,” Peskov said. “He is open to peace, to a serious peace and serious decisions. He is absolutely not open to any tricks aimed at stalling for time.”

Putin has denied plans to attack any European allies.

Russia fired 153 drones of various types at Ukraine overnight Sunday into Monday, according to Ukraine’s Air Force, which said 133 drones were neutralized, while 17 more hit their targets.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry on Monday said forces destroyed 130 Ukrainian drones overnight. An additional 16 drones were destroyed between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. local time.

Eighteen drones were shot down over Moscow itself, the defense ministry said. Flights were temporarily halted at the city’s Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports as part of safety measures, officials said.

Damage details and casualty figures were not immediately available.

Madhani reported from Washington. Seung Min Kim and Darlene Superville in Washington; Pietro De Cristofaro in Berlin; Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine; and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.

Follow the AP’s coverage of Russia's war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, talian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, front row from left, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Dick Schoof,Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, back row from left, stand together in the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, meet at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool)

The flags of the participating nations are seen at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber,Pool)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacts during a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center left, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, center right, attend the German-Ukrainian Economic Forum in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa via AP)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy smiles during a visit of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, in the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, center right, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center left, President of Ukraine, leave the Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa/dpa via AP)

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomes Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives at the Bellevue Palace for talks with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy of the United States, center, exits from the American Embassy in Berlin, Monday Dec. 15, 2025. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, exits from the American Embassy in Berlin, Monday Dec. 15, 2025. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, leaves through a hotel garage for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,stands in his office in the chancellory in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)

Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine, at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

Jared Kushner, entrepreneur and former chief adviser to President Donald Trump, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, watches Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arriving at the chancellory in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Maryam Majd)

NEW YORK (AP) — Kelsey Plum scored 31 points to lead short-handed Phantom BC to the Unrivaled championship game as the top seed beat Vinyl 83-75 in the semifinals of the 3-on-3 league at Barclays Center on Monday night.

Phantom will play the winner of second-seeded Mist and No. 5 Breeze on Wednesday night at Unrivaled's home arena in Miami. The winning team will take home a prize pool of $600,000 that will be split among the players from the championship club.

Phantom was missing star forward Aliyah Boston, who is out for the playoffs with a right leg injury.

After the success of taking the league to Philadelphia in late January for a weekend, Unrivaled decided to move the semifinals to New York a few weeks ago. Playing at Barclays Center was a homecoming for Unrivaled co-founder Breanna Stewart, who led the New York Liberty to its first championship in 2024.

The star-studded sellout crowd of 18,261 that filled Barclays Center included basketball greats Carmelo Anthony and Sue Bird; actors Ashton Kutcher and Jason Sudeikis, and gold medal-winning U.S. hockey player Hilary Knight.

The crowd gave a loud ovation to Liberty guard Natasha Cloud, who walked down to the court through the fans as she was introduced.

She gave them a lot to cheer about as she rallied Phantom in the third quarter from a 59-50 deficit. Cloud drew an offensive foul on one end and then had a three-point play on the other. Her team was up 71-64 heading into the final quarter. The league uses a format where the first team to 82 points is the winner.

Vinyl got within 78-75 before Phantom scored the final five points, including the game-winner by Plum on a fadeaway 3-pointer.

Vinyl was looking to get back to the championship game. The team lost to Rose BC for last year's title. Dearica Hamby led the way for them with 30 points.

Chelsea Gray of Rose BC won the league's MVP on Monday. The guard, who won Unrivaled's 1-on-1 tournament last month, averaged 24.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 6.1 assists. Gray broke her own league single-season assists record with 85 in 14 games. She had nine games with 20 or more points and 10 contests with five or more assists. She also tied the league single-game 3-pointers record with 10 on Feb. 22.

Gray accepted the trophy before the start of the first game.

“I want to say thank you to everyone who voted. I love this game. Want to be great every night and that's always my goal,” Gray said. “Women's basketball is where it's at, shows by all you guys coming out and watching us compete every single night.”

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Vinyl BC guard Erica Wheeler (17) drives past Phantom BC guard Kelsey Plum (10) during the first half of a semifinal in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball game, Monday, March 2, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)