US asked Ukraine would give up territory for Nato membership, says Zelensky

US officials reportedly questioned Ukraine's willingness to relinquish territory to Russia in exchange for NATO membership, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. In comments released yesterday, Zelensky said Ukraine's relationship with the Western alliance was back on the agenda. The Ukrainian president also cautioned about Russia's ambitions to redraw European influence and warned that Moscow was "betting everything" on its current military campaign.

Russian forces have been conducting intense attacks on Ukraine as winter approaches, with Russian President Vladimir Putin showing no signs of relenting. Following a two-day meeting in Abu Dhabi between US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff and both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, no progress was made. However, the talks did result in agreements that European nations would join future discussions on ending the war.

At a summit in Dublin on Friday, Europe selected France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and Poland to send representatives to the talks. Zelensky noted that the Americans had initially proposed the idea of Ukraine joining NATO and ceding land to Russia, something that had not been discussed before. The US and NATO have not yet responded to these allegations.

Russia continued its airstrikes on Thursday, targeting the eastern city of Pavlohrad and a village near Zaporizhzhia, which is now just a few dozen kilometers from the front line. Zelensky stated that Ukraine was in discussions with Western partners about seeking security guarantees and that Ukrainians would ultimately decide whether to accept any proposed deal.

He emphasized that Ukraine would not recognize any land seized by Russian forces as part of Russian territory. Russia has consistently maintained that Ukraine's NATO membership would be a red line. In 2022, Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, claiming that the West intended to incorporate Ukraine into NATO. The Kremlin has also ruled out the presence of foreign peacekeeping troops in Ukraine and the establishment of wider ceasefires.

However, Putin proposed a "humanitarian" mission to the eastern town of Kostyantynivka, a region that Russia had annexed in the summer but where Ukrainian forces reportedly continue to resist. Zelensky dismissed the proposal as an attempt to further Russian gains in the Donetsk region. "Their next steps will be our other cities in Donbas," he warned.

Russia has attempted to reframe negotiations aimed at resolving the war into a broader discussion on security arrangements across the continent. In 2021, before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moscow had issued an ultimatum to the West to withdraw NATO troops from Eastern Europe. Moscow's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, recently called for a "new, modern Yalta," which European leaders have largely rejected.

Zelensky stressed that any conversation about broader security arrangements should occur only after the war's conclusion. European officials have expressed skepticism towards the idea of a new security architecture. Germany's Friedrich Merz stated that the proposal "does not need to be discussed," while French President Emmanuel Macron called out those who seek to "ration aid to Ukraine" as attempting to force an "unjust peace" on Ukraine and, by extension, all of Europe.

Macron emphasized that "what happens in Ukraine concerns us directly" and that Western support for Ukraine is crucial for protecting both France and the entire continent.