Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Nov. 13 that the United States proposed Ukraine potentially withdraw from the Donbas region in exchange for NATO membership.
“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,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday, according to The Kyiv Independent.
The Donbas refers to Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. The majority of the region, which is located in eastern Ukraine along the border with Russia, is currently occupied by Russia. Moscow previously said it wants permanent and total ownership of the region.
Zelenskyy’s comments were made after the United States held trilateral peace talks with Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Nov. 10 and Nov. 11. Following the negotiations, U.S. envoy Jared Kushner described the discussions as tough and substantive and announced that Moscow and Kyiv agreed to a large prisoner exchange.
The Trump administration previously proposed that Ukraine give up the Donbas region in a 28-point peace plan last year. Russian President Vladimir Putin also previously demanded that Ukraine be barred from joining NATO.
Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday that Ukraine is discussing a comprehensive security package with its partners, which could include a strong Ukrainian military, a recovery plan, financial support for a certain period of time, and guarantees from NATO and the European Union.
“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?” he said.
Putin reiterated on Nov. 12 that sending European troops to Ukraine after a ceasefire as a security guarantee would be regarded as a threat to Moscow.
“In other words, the war would resume immediately,” he warned.
Putin’s warning was issued as thousands of European troops are participating in a major military exercise in Poland this month in preparation for a potential postwar mission in Ukraine.
In his comments to reporters on Friday, Zelenskyy underscored that any agreement would not include recognizing occupied territories as Russian.
Zelenskyy added that Ukraine would not commit to neutrality, which he said would require changing Ukraine’s constitution.
“If Putin expects Ukraine’s neutrality to be enshrined, that’s not going to happen,” the Ukrainian president said. “We’re not in NATO right now anyway.”
Zelenskyy accused Moscow of not focusing exclusively on ending the ongoing war but instead trying to also address broader European security issues. He suggested that part of the concept of revising European security guarantees was Putin’s “desire to change borders in Europe.”
“This is dangerous because, in my view, it is precisely things like this that lead to wars or escalations,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy also suggested that Putin could try to push for changes to NATO’s military presence in Europe, such as in Finland and Sweden, as well as the presence of U.S. military troops in Baltic countries.
The Ukrainian president argued that changes to security arrangements in Europe should be decided by European NATO members only after the war between Russia and Ukraine is ended.
“The sequence should be as follows: a ceasefire, an end to the war in Ukraine, and security guarantees for Ukraine,” he told reporters. “There can be no security guarantees in Europe, or for Europe, without Ukraine.”
Asked about Zelenskyy’s comments on Nov. 14, a U.S. official told The Epoch Times, “Many ideas continue to be discussed but any final deal will have to be agreed to by both parties.”
Following this week’s negotiations in Abu Dhabi, Zelenskyy said there will be additional multilateral meetings aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
