The U.S. has raised the possibility of Ukraine withdrawing from the remaining areas it controls in Donbas in exchange for NATO membership as part of negotiations to end the war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
“The Americans raised a question: ‘What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?’ This was the first time this had been raised,” Zelenskyy told reporters Friday in comments released Saturday.
Zelenskyy said the proposal made him believe NATO membership was “back on the agenda,” although he stressed that no concrete agreement had been reached.
“I have said repeatedly: Ukraine is not retreating and is not giving up its land to terrorists,” he said.
Russia occupies most of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up Donbas and has previously demanded territorial concessions, limits on Ukraine’s military and guarantees that Kyiv remains outside NATO.
Zelenskyy said Kyiv was discussing a broader security package with its partners that would include specific guarantees from NATO and the EU, a strong Ukrainian military with sufficient personnel, weapons and financing, and a reconstruction plan with clearly defined funding.
“If the American side confirms precisely this to us, together with other NATO partners, then I will ask our Ukrainian society what it thinks: do we accept it or not?” Zelenskyy said. “I have no right to make that decision on my own.”
He added that any arrangement would not include recognition of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories as part of Russia.
“But we need specifics, and we don’t have them yet. All of this is still under discussion,” he said.
Zelenskyy also warned that Moscow was seeking a broader revision of Europe’s security architecture, describing the issue as dangerous.
He said the U.S. side had raised the possibility of a different postwar security structure for Europe and argued that Russia was particularly interested in such discussions.
“Real security in Europe means the EU and NATO. That’s it. There is no other security in Europe,” Zelenskyy said.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to change borders in Europe and suggested Moscow could raise issues involving Finland, Sweden, Hungary and the presence of U.S. troops in the Baltic states.
Zelenskyy said such discussions should take place only after the war ends and warned against allowing them to overshadow a cease-fire and security guarantees for Ukraine.
According to Ukrinform, Zelenskyy said Moscow’s proposals resembled ideas Putin had raised before the full-scale war involving a redistribution of forces in Europe, a reduction or withdrawal of NATO forces and the removal of U.S. troops.
The New York Times was cited by RBC-Ukraine as reporting that Russia had again called for NATO to return to its 1997 positions in a document presented during recent talks.
Zelenskyy also rejected a Russian proposal for a humanitarian mission in Kostyantynivka, accusing Moscow of trying to use the initiative to gain control of the city.
He said fighting was continuing inside Kostyantynivka and that Ukraine had done everything possible to allow civilians to leave.
According to Zelenskyy, U.S. negotiators brought him the Russian proposal, but he explained that those remaining in the city were armed Ukrainians and Russian forces.
He argued that if Ukraine gave up Kostyantynivka, Russia could next move toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Zelenskyy contrasted the proposal with an earlier humanitarian operation in Russian-occupied Oleshky, where civilians were evacuated with U.S. mediation, including an initiative involving U.S. first lady Melania Trump.
He said Ukraine had provided the U.S. side with a list of seven or eight settlements where civilians, including children, remained blocked but Russia had not proposed similar operations there.
Zelenskyy said Russian troops had failed to capture Kostyantynivka for about a year and a half and claimed Russia suffered 54,000 killed or seriously wounded troops in October.
Zelenskyy also said an agreement to stop attacks on energy infrastructure was discussed during U.S.-Ukraine-Russia talks in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10-11 but was not reached.
He said Russian negotiators told the Ukrainian delegation they did not have the authority to agree to such a measure and that the issue should be discussed directly with Putin.
Ukraine then proposed a leaders’ meeting, while the sides agreed that the U.S. team would take the issue to Putin, Zelenskyy said.
“As of today, what we have is what we have. Putin personally does not support the cease-fire,” he said.
The Abu Dhabi talks produced an agreement on what Zelenskyy described as the largest prisoner exchange of the war, an agreement to continue negotiations and plans to include European representatives in future talks.