US negotiators have floated the idea of Ukraine withdrawing from its eastern Donbas region in exchange for joining NATO, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday, following the latest round of US-brokered peace talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi.
Zelenskiy said it was the first time the question of linking NATO membership to territorial concessions had been raised during the talks. “The Americans raised a question: ‘What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?'” he told reporters in remarks released by his office. “That is why I believe NATO is back on the agenda. But you have also heard Putin’s signals, and this is an extremely difficult conversation.”
President Vladimir Putin has long described Ukrainian membership of NATO as a red line for Moscow, citing it as one reason for launching the full-scale invasion in 2022. Any deal trading territory for membership would therefore face opposition from the Kremlin as well as from Kyiv.
Zelenskiy repeated that Kyiv was not ready to concede territory, but said that if Ukraine received a comprehensive package — security guarantees, the right to a strong and well-funded army, and funds to rebuild — he would put the question to a national referendum.
He also rejected Moscow’s call for a broad agreement on European security architecture before the specifics of ending the war are settled, echoing European leaders at a summit in Dublin on Friday. “We cannot turn everything upside down and start by talking about changing the security framework in the world or across the continent overall, and only then talk about ending this war. This war must be ended first,” he said.
Zelenskiy dismissed Putin’s suggestion of a local humanitarian ceasefire in Kostiantynivka, a contested city in the Donetsk region, saying it reflected Moscow’s inability to take the city by force and that civilians there had already had the chance to evacuate. “Putin simply wants us to leave Kostiantynivka so that they can move in and occupy the entire city that way,” he said. Ukraine has given a list of seven or eight other frontline settlements where civilians, including children, are trapped, for a potential humanitarian truce, but Russia prefers to use them as military targets, he said. Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians.
The two days of talks in Abu Dhabi concluded on Wednesday without a major breakthrough, although the sides agreed a prisoner exchange involving more than 1,000 people, with final numbers still under discussion. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had pledged to raise an energy ceasefire with Putin at a meeting in Moscow on Thursday, but Zelenskiy said there was no news of progress. “Putin personally does not support a ceasefire,” he said. Zelenskiy met Witkoff and Kushner on Thursday in Ireland after their Moscow talks, and said the US negotiators had told him all sides had agreed Europe would have a seat at the table in forthcoming peace talks. At the Ireland summit, EU leaders agreed Europe’s team would comprise five major military powers — Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland — as well as EU officials.
Note: the account of the US proposal rests on President Zelenskiy’s remarks to reporters; the United States has not publicly confirmed the suggestion.
Sources: Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-floated-idea-ukraine-ceding-donbas-nato-membership-zelenskiy-says-2026-11-14/
