Special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff says Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the U.S. and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO’s collective defense mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war.

After leaving Alaska, Trump says he would prefer to "go directly to a peace agreement" to end the war in Ukraine as he prepares to meet Zelensky on Monday.

"We are seeing accommodation more than we've seen in the past, certainly more than we saw in the last administration," Witkoff said. "And that's encouraging. Now we have to build on that."