The Ukrainian president said American negotiators asked for the first time whether Kyiv would pull out of Donbas if it could join Nato. He said no concrete offer had been made.
US negotiators have raised the idea of Ukraine withdrawing its remaining forces from the eastern Donbas region in exchange for joining Nato, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“The Americans raised a question: ‘What if Ukraine joins Nato? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?’ This was the first time this had been raised,” Zelensky told reporters on Friday, in remarks released by his office on Saturday.
He said no concrete offer had been made, but that the question showed “Nato is back on the agenda”.
Zelensky repeated that Ukraine would not withdraw its troops from its own territory. But he said that if Kyiv received a comprehensive package, including security guarantees, no limits on its armed forces and money to rebuild the country, he would put the question to Ukrainians in a referendum.
He also ruled out changing Ukraine’s constitution to make the country neutral, saying it would not guarantee lasting security.
“You have also heard Putin’s signals, and this is an extremely difficult conversation,” he cautioned.
Russia occupies about a fifth of Ukraine, including most of Donetsk and Luhansk, the two regions that make up Donbas. Handing over the parts Kyiv still holds would be a major symbolic concession for Ukraine.
Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met Zelensky in Dublin on Thursday, after holding talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Earlier in the week, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held their first US-brokered direct talks in nine months in Abu Dhabi. Apart from a renewed exchange of prisoners, there was little sign of progress. European representatives are expected to join the next round.
Ukraine has long sought Nato membership, but the US and some other members have previously opposed it, and Russia has said another Nato member on its border is unacceptable.
Moscow has shown no sign of shifting. It wants Ukraine to withdraw from the parts of Donbas it still controls, to accept limits on the size of its armed forces and to stay neutral, and it says it will not agree to a ceasefire until a final deal covering territory and security is in place.
Russia has also revived demands it made in 2021, months before its full-scale invasion, for Nato to stop expanding near its borders and to pull military infrastructure out of the central and eastern European countries that joined after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Western governments rejected those demands at the time.
Zelensky said Moscow’s attempt to reshape European security was “dangerous because, in my view, it is precisely things like this that lead to wars or escalations”. He added: “Real security in Europe means the EU and Nato. That’s it.”
The talks follow a fraught period between Kyiv and Washington. Trump asked Ukraine to pause strikes on Russian oil facilities so Russian diesel could reach world markets and ease fuel prices. Zelensky then accused US officials of restricting Ukraine’s Starlink internet service, which its forces use to coordinate defence, and Trump said it was “time for Ukraine to get a new president”.
Elections are suspended while Ukraine is under martial law. Zelensky has said he would hold them within months of a peace deal, and would give up the presidency in exchange for Nato membership.
The fighting goes on. Russian authorities said a Ukrainian drone strike on Saturday killed a couple and their two-year-old daughter at their home in Proletarsky, in Russia’s Belgorod region near the border. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 96 drones overnight, 81 of which were shot down or jammed, with hits reported at eight locations.