By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – NATO chief Mark Rutte on Tuesday praised US President Donald Trump as a “pragmatic peacemaker” after the talks with Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House, credited him for restarting dialogue with Putin as discussions focused on Article 5-style security guarantees for Ukraine.
Rutte told reporters “Let me first say that this was a very successful day, and I agree with you that President Trump is a pragmatic peacemaker, as you said, and what he did this year, breaking the deadlock, starting the conversation with Putin.”
The remark came after a high-level meeting at the White House on August 18, 2025, which brought President Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and several key European leaders to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war and potential paths toward peace.
He added that Ukraine’s NATO membership was not on the table, discussions were underway on offering Kyiv “Article 5–style” security guarantees.
Rutte confirmed that the issue of security guarantees was part of Monday’s White House discussions, but stressed that there was no talk of NATO troops on the ground.
Trump called Monday’s talks “very good” and said he had spoken with Putin to start planning a meeting between the Russia and Ukraine presidents, ahead of a possible trilateral summit that he will also attend.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during his summit with Trump that Washington and its European partners could extend Ukraine a security guarantee similar to NATO’s collective defense pledge, as part of a potential framework to end the war, a senior US official said.
Steve Witkoff an envoy attended the talks at a military base in Alaska on Friday, described the outcome as “game-changing,” noted it was the first time Moscow had signaled openness to such an idea.
He told CNN’s State of the Union that “We secured a concession that the U.S. could provide Article 5-style protection — which is a key reason Ukraine has pushed for NATO membership.”
