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The US has floated the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO in exchange for surrendering its remaining territory in the war-ravaged Donbas region to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“The Americans raised the question: ‘What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?’ This was the first time this issue had been raised,” Zelensky told reporters Friday, in comments released Saturday.
Russia controls about 80% of Donetsk and nearly all of Luhansk, the two mineral-rich eastern Ukrainian provinces that make up the Donbas, according to Nov. 11 estimates by the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has long demanded that Ukraine pull out of the Donbas region entirely as a condition for a cease-fire.
Zelensky said he would put any proposed deal to the Ukrainian people if Washington and its NATO allies spell out a comprehensive security package that includes weapons, postwar recovery assistance and 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? I have no right to make that decision on my own,” Zelensky said.
“We need specifics, and we don’t have them yet. All of this is still under discussion.”
The Ukrainian leader insisted, however, that any agreement would come “without any recognition of the occupied territories as Russian,” according to the Kyiv Independent.
He’s long held the position that he could only accept freezing the war along the current front line, which would see Ukraine retain 20% of Donetsk.
Meanwhile, the US, Ukraine and Russia have agreed to bring as many as five European representatives directly into peace negotiations following trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi this week.
European leaders have worried that the US-brokered negotiations could leave Kyiv vulnerable to Putin’s demands, while Ukraine has sought stronger backing from its allies on the continent.
“Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron said this week. “There is no more US support.”
Representatives of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland are expected to participate in the next round of peace talks.
