US plans to trade Ukrainian territory for NATO membership, Zelensky says

US negotiators have asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to consider ceding part of his country in exchange for NATO membership, the leader said.

Zelensky told reporters on Friday that he had been asked for the first time whether he would withdraw from the eastern Donbas region in exchange for joining the military alliance.

“The Americans asked the question: ‘What if Ukraine joined NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?’ It was the first time that this issue was raised,” the Ukrainian president said.

Zelensky said he was discussing a “security package” for Ukraine that would include security guarantees from NATO and the European Union, a “sufficient number of soldiers, weapons” as well as financial support. The Ukrainian president said that if these measures were proposed, he would ask the Ukrainians if they accepted the potential exchange.

He did not specify whether he was talking about a referendum, but added: “I have no right to make this decision by myself.”

Control of the Donbass region, much of which has been occupied by Russia since the start of the war, has been a recurring sticking point in negotiations aimed at ending the conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously requested that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the Donbass region as a precondition for a peace agreement.

After holding elections that most of the world described as a sham in occupied parts of the Donbas region, Putin declared in September 2022 that four regions in eastern Ukraine had also been annexed by Russia. None of the annexations have been recognized by the United States or the United Nations, and most countries consider them illegal land grabs.

Zelenskyy said he told U.S. negotiators that Ukraine would need security guarantees modeled on NATO’s Article 5 “at an absolute minimum.” This article sets out a key principle for the military alliance, according to which an attack on one of the member states is considered an attack on all other members.

The Ukrainian president added that he was “not sure it would necessarily work” and said he needed more specific details on potential membership.