US floated Ukraine leaving Donbas in exchange for NATO membership, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that US negotiators have floated a new idea in the talks to end the war: Ukraine would join NATO in exchange for withdrawing from its eastern Donbas region. "The Americans raised a question: 'What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?' This was the first time this had been raised," he told reporters, a day after meeting US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Dublin.
Donbas borders Russia in Ukraine's far east. Moscow declared it had annexed the region in 2022 after its full-scale invasion, and Russian troops occupy the vast majority of it. Ceding Donbas has long featured in proposals from President Donald Trump's administration, including the 28-part peace plan the White House put forward in 2025. Russian President Vladimir Putin has separately demanded that Ukraine abandon its NATO ambitions and accept strict limits on the size of its military. The White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Zelenskyy repeated that Ukraine "is not retreating and is not giving up its land to terrorists." He said he is discussing a "comprehensive security package" with partners. It would include specific NATO and EU guarantees, a strong Ukrainian army with enough troops, weapons and financial support for a set period, and a recovery plan with clear funding.
If the US confirms such an offer together with other NATO partners, Zelenskyy said, he would ask Ukrainian society whether to accept it, because he has no right to decide alone. Any deal, he stressed, would involve no recognition of the occupied territories as Russian. He cautioned that Ukraine still lacks specifics and that everything remains under discussion.
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