Zelensky Says US Floated NATO Membership for a Ukrainian Pullout From Donbas

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said American negotiators have raised a new idea in peace efforts: Ukraine would withdraw from the parts of the eastern Donbas region it still holds in exchange for NATO membership. The BBC and The Kyiv Independent both reported his remarks to journalists.

Zelensky said it was the first time the question had come up. He stressed that nothing is final and that he would not decide alone: if a firm package is offered, he said he would ask Ukrainians to vote on it.

What Zelensky says

According to the Kyiv Independent, Zelensky said that if the United States and other NATO partners confirm the offer, he would put it to the public. He said he has “no right to make that decision on my own.” Any deal, he added, would come without recognizing occupied territory as Russian.

He said Ukraine is discussing a broader security package with its partners. As he described it, the package would include guarantees from NATO and the EU, a strong Ukrainian army with enough troops, weapons and funding for a set period, and a recovery plan backed by clearly identified money.

Zelensky said he had asked for guarantees modeled on Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty as an absolute minimum, and that Washington was now describing something similar to Articles 4 and 5. Asked whether American troops would be deployed in Ukraine under such guarantees, the U.S. side said no, he said. He added that U.S. officials compared the proposal to bilateral guarantees like those Israel has.

The BBC reported that he believes the idea means NATO “is back on the agenda,” though he warned that Putin's signals make this an extremely difficult conversation. He also said, “we need specifics, and we don't have them yet.”

What Russia says and does

Russia has said another NATO member on its border is unacceptable, the BBC noted, and it has demanded that Ukraine give up the Donbas. The BBC said comments from Putin and Kremlin officials suggest Moscow's position has not shifted, with its demands on territory and neutrality far exceeding what Kyiv will consider.

Euronews, cited by NewsCord, reported that Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that, as far as her department knew, the issue was not discussed in Moscow talks with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. NewsCord also reported that Putin insisted on Moscow's control over four Ukrainian regions Russia says it annexed and rejected foreign peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, while proposing a short truce to evacuate civilians from Kostyantynivka.

Where the talks stand

The comments come after Witkoff and Kushner met Putin in Moscow and then traveled to Dublin on Thursday to see Zelensky. U.S.-mediated talks between Ukrainian and Russian representatives took place in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10-11, according to the Kyiv Independent. Kushner said afterward that the discussions with both sides were very productive, though disagreements on a halt to fighting and on security arrangements remain, NewsCord reported.

The BBC noted that U.S. officials had previously said Ukrainian NATO membership was off the table.

What's at stake

Russia occupies roughly a fifth of Ukraine, including most of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas. The BBC said giving up the small areas Ukraine still controls there would carry symbolic weight, because it would amount to accepting the Donbas as Russian. Kyiv has long said it will not give up sovereign territory and wants NATO membership as protection against future attacks.

Any change in either side's position would reshape the terms of a possible peace deal. For now, Zelensky says the proposal is only under discussion and that the details Ukraine would need have not been provided.

Around Prague, based on reporting by BBC, The Kyiv Independent, NewsCord

Cover photo: Mykola Lazarenko / The Presidential Administration of Ukrain / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped

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