Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said U.S. peace envoys asked whether Ukraine would be willing to cede the Donbas region to Russia in exchange for NATO membership, signaling a potential shift in Washington’s negotiating tactics, as a top U.S. envoy called for “direct engagement” between Europe and Moscow.
As the full-scale war between Ukraine and Russia heads toward the end of its fifth year in February, the administration of President Donald Trump is trying to make a breakthrough in the peace negotiations they’re moderating.
“It was the first time this had been raised,” Zelenskyy told reporters in his office in Kyiv late Friday of the plan involving the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the nation’s east. “We are discussing with our partners a comprehensive security package that could be offered to us in the negotiations.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to seek full control of the Donbas, where his forces are making grinding assaults to try to seize a fortress belt of cities they’ve failed to conquer in fighting dating back to 2014. Russian troops have suffered massive combat casualties since the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said that the package floated by Washington includes specific security guarantees from NATO and the European Union; a strong Ukrainian army, meaning an adequate number of troops, weapons, and financial support for a specified period of time; and a recovery plan backed by funding with clearly identified sources.
“If the American side confirms precisely this to us, together with other NATO partners, then I will ask our Ukrainian society what it thinks: do we accept it or not?” Zelenskyy said. “I have no right to make that decision on my own.”
Zelenskyy said Kyiv is looking for security guarantees modeled on Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as an “absolute minimum.” The U.S. officials responded that “it could be something similar to Articles 4 and 5 of NATO,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine needs more clarity.
“My question to the American side was, ‘If you give us this something similar to NATO, will American soldiers be on our soil?’” Zelenskyy said. “Their answer was ‘No.’”
Last week, U.S. envoys Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff met with their Ukrainian and Russian counterparts in Abu Dhabi for talks that yielded some progress, according to all sides. While Kyiv and Moscow agreed to a substantial exchange of prisoners of war, territorial disputes remain far from resolved.
At a subsequent meeting in Moscow on Thursday, Putin told Witkoff and Kushner that the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine would threaten Russia’s security and was unacceptable. The Kremlin has long argued that NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union threatens Russian security, and has cited it as one of the reasons for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia also agreed to allow EU representatives to join the talks. The bloc is expected to decide on its envoys by the end of this month, Zelenskyy said.
Kushner said Saturday in a post on X that the Trump administration wants to see direct talks between Moscow and US allies in Europe, piggybacking on Russian demands to discuss Europe’s overall security arrangements.
“Our focus now is on facilitating direct engagement between Moscow and European partners and preparing the agenda for the next round of trilateral talks,” Kushner said.
Meanwhile, Kyiv faces what it sees as periodic pressure from Washington to accept unfavorable peace terms. The latest example is restrictions on the use of Starshield, a satellite-based communications system developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX for military purposes.
Zelenskyy said Starshield terminals are currently restricted in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, hampering Kyiv’s air defenses, which attempt to intercept Russian drones and missiles before they reach other parts of the country.
In his X post, Kushner pushed back on reports of “maximalist positions proposed by both sides” in ongoing talks.
“In our private discussions, both sides understand that practical compromises will be necessary to end this war,” he said.