Trump says deal to end Ukraine war ‘closer than ever’ after Berlin talks

European leaders say they and the US are committed to working together to provide ‘robust security guarantees’ for Ukraine.Published On 15 Dec 2025US President Donald Trump has said that an agreement to end Russia’s war on Ukraine is “closer than ever” after key leaders held talks in Berlin, but several officials said that significant differences remain over territorial issues.Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday that he had “very long and very good talks” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and NATO.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Gaza authorities struggle to recover bodies from rubble amid winter stormslist 2 of 4US social media rules for tourists could have ‘chilling effect’ on travellist 3 of 4ICC rejects Israeli bid to block Gaza war crimes investigationlist 4 of 4Honduras election official says ‘disturbances’ preventing vote recountend of list“We’re having tremendous support from European leaders. They want to get it [the war] ended also,” he said.“We had numerous conversations with President [Vladimir] Putin of Russia, and I think we’re closer now than we have been, ever, and we’ll see what we can do.”Zelenskyy had earlier said that negotiations with US and European leaders were difficult but productive.The high-level discussions, involving Zelenskyy, a US delegation led by envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and European leaders, took place in Berlin over two days amid mounting pressure from Washington for Kyiv to make concessions to Moscow to end one of Europe’s deadliest conflicts since World War II.In a statement following the talks, European leaders said they and the US were committed to working together to provide “robust security guarantees” to Ukraine, including a European-led “multinational force Ukraine” supported by the US.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 that Ukrainian forces should remain at a peacetime level of 800,000.