Volodymyr Zelensky said US negotiators raised, for the first time, whether Ukraine would withdraw from Donbas in exchange for joining NATO. The disclosure puts territory and security guarantees into the same negotiating question, but it is neither a formal membership offer nor a peace agreement.
According to remarks released by Zelensky's office and reported by El Mundo, he described the question after a week of diplomacy that included trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi. His political response was clear: Ukraine is not prepared to abandon its territory. He added that a concrete package with sufficient security guarantees, a strong and funded Ukrainian military, and reconstruction money would have to go to a referendum.
That condition is not simply procedural. It rejects the idea that a security guarantee can automatically compensate for territorial withdrawal. NATO membership also depends on decisions by the Alliance itself, so the question attributed to US negotiators cannot be treated as a commitment to admit Ukraine.
The reported Russian position makes the gap wider. El Mundo cited a Russian position paper, obtained by The New York Times, that calls for NATO forces to return to their 1997 positions, among broader demands on Europe's security architecture. Moscow also seeks control of all Donbas, while Kyiv rejects withdrawing from the positions it still holds.
The episode therefore exposes the scale of the disagreement rather than a workable settlement. The dispute is not only about where a territorial line might fall. It is also about who defines Ukraine's security guarantees and how far European security can be rolled back. Turning an exploratory question into commitments acceptable to Kyiv, its allies and Moscow would require far more than the material supplied shows.
Sources
- El Mundo · Source date: 2026-11-14
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-14