KYIV: A new idea has surfaced in the long search for peace in Ukraine, and it carries a heavy price. President Volodymyr Zelensky says American negotiators asked whether Ukraine would pull its remaining forces out of the eastern Donbas region in return for NATO membership, reported by BBC News.
According to remarks released Saturday, Zelensky said it was the first time the question had been raised. He added that if he received a concrete offer with security guarantees, no limits on Ukraine’s army and money to rebuild the country, he would put it to a national referendum.
The comments come after a busy week of diplomacy. US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, then flew to Dublin on Thursday to meet Zelensky. Yet Moscow’s position seems unmoved. Russia still wants limits on Ukraine’s military, territorial concessions and guaranteed neutrality. It says it will not stop fighting until a final peace deal is signed.
It is far from certain that Washington is truly offering NATO membership. The White House has not answered requests for comment, and Kyiv itself is understood to see the idea as unrealistic. Other NATO members are cautious, and the Kremlin has always been fiercely opposed. Indeed, that opposition is one reason Russia launched its full scale invasion in February 2022.
So what was the point? Perhaps the American envoys were testing Ukraine’s red lines over the occupied Donbas. Perhaps Zelensky spoke publicly to reopen a door many thought was closed. He insists the idea is back on the agenda as part of an “extremely difficult conversation” about European security.
The stakes are enormous. Russia holds about a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including most of Donetsk and Luhansk, the two regions that make up the Donbas. Ukraine has repeatedly refused to give up sovereign land. It believes Russia’s ambitions reach much further, and it has long seen NATO as its only reliable shield.
Relations with Washington have also been bumpy. Tensions rose over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities and over Zelensky’s claim that US officials limited Ukraine’s Starlink service. President Donald Trump even said it was “time for Ukraine to get a new president.” Elections are suspended under martial law, but Zelensky says he would hold them within months of a peace deal.
