Ukraine Donbas withdrawal Nato membership proposal Zelensky, Digi Mart USA News (Ireland): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said US negotiators have raised the idea of Ukraine withdrawing its remaining forces from the eastern Donbas region in exchange for Nato membership. The United States has not confirmed Zelensky’s comments, which followed meetings between US envoys and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky as part of efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
In remarks released by his office on Saturday, Zelensky said the Americans had asked: “What if Ukraine joins Nato? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?” He said this was the first time the question had been raised.
He also said that if he received a specific proposal containing security guarantees, no constraints on Ukraine’s military and funds to rebuild the country, he would put it to a referendum.
US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff travelled to Dublin on Thursday to meet Zelensky, after a round of talks with Putin in Moscow. Kyiv has long sought Nato membership, a goal previously opposed by the US and others, while Russia has said another Nato member on its border is unacceptable.
Russia controls most of the industrial Donbas region, and Zelensky has consistently said Ukraine is unwilling to give up sovereign territory.
It is not clear from the reporting whether the US is actually proposing Nato membership. The White House has not yet replied to a request for comment, and the BBC reports that Ukraine itself regards that prospect as unrealistic.
Other Nato members are wary, and the Kremlin remains firmly opposed to the alliance’s expansion.
Comments from Putin and Kremlin officials suggest Russia’s position has not changed. Moscow has previously proposed limits on the size of Ukraine’s military, territorial concessions and Ukraine’s guaranteed neutrality as conditions of a peace deal, which Kyiv has rejected on the grounds that such constraints would hamper its ability to defend against future invasion.
Zelensky has said US mediators believed Kyiv only had to cede territory to achieve peace and were applying pressure for a quick deal. He maintains that the Donbas idea is now “back on the agenda” as part of an “extremely difficult conversation” on European security.
Russia has insisted it will not agree to a ceasefire until a final peace deal is in place that includes handing over territory its troops have not captured, in addition to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
