Ukraine Warupdated 28m ago2 min read
Archive photo · 10 December 2019Zelensky Says US Negotiators Asked Ukraine to Withdraw From Donbas for NATO Membership
5 West Asian4 Western Mainstream1 Israeli2 Other source typesPhoto: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0 · Cropped for layout
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
US negotiators floated ceding Donbas for NATO membership during Abu Dhabi talks. Zelensky says Kyiv will not retreat or cede Ukrainian lands.
Save coverage image
12 outlets in this story. Read their headlines below.
Abu Dhabi talks, NATO
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said American negotiators raised a question about whether Ukraine would withdraw from the eastern Donbas in exchange for joining NATO after the latest round of talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi. Zelensky reaffirmed that Kyiv does not intend to cede its lands, and he said that if Ukraine obtains a comprehensive security package, including security guarantees, a strong national army with good funding, and funds for reconstruction, he will put the matter to a referendum. Zelensky also said Russia is “betting everything” on its winter campaign, demanding a package of American military aid that could compel Vladimir Putin to stop the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted on Moscow’s control over the four Ukrainian regions that it announced as annexed and rejected the deployment of foreign peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, while proposing a short truce to evacuate civilians from Kostyantynivka. U.S. envoy Jared Kushner said after the Abu Dhabi talks that the discussions with both sides were very productive, even as the negotiations continued to include disagreements over the cessation of fighting and security arrangements.
Zelensky rejects retreat
Zelensky told reporters, “The Americans asked the question: what if Ukraine joins NATO? Will Ukraine withdraw from Donbas? This was the first time this question was raised.”
Zelensky said he would put any proposal to Ukrainians only if it came with “specific security guarantees” from NATO and the EU, and he warned that he had “no right to make that decision on my own.”
The BBC said Zelensky’s comments came after US envoys visited Moscow and an EU summit in Dublin as part of efforts to end the war, and the outlet noted that Russia has said another NATO member on its border was unacceptable.
Euronews reported that Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova dampened hopes of agreement by saying that, as far as her department was aware, “the issue was not discussed during the talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow.”
What is at stake
Zelensky said the US proposal made him believe that “Nato is back on the agenda,” while he cautioned that he had also heard Putin’s signals and called the conversation “extremely difficult.”
“‘When Putin says something about state borders, it is certainly not about reducing Russia’s territory, right? Therefore, there is no faith in the comrade in the Kremlin,’ Zelensky told reporters.”
Zelensky said Russia’s insistence on state borders meant “there is no faith in the comrade in the Kremlin,” and he argued that Putin’s comments about borders were not about reducing Russia’s territory.
Zelensky said Ukraine was negotiating a comprehensive security package that would include concrete guarantees from NATO and the EU, a strong Ukrainian army with an appropriate number of troops and weapons, and a Prosperity Plan backed by funds from clear sources.
Zelensky warned that “Real security in Europe means the EU and NATO. That's it. There is no other security in Europe,” linking the stakes to how any settlement could affect future European security arrangements.
The BBC said Russia currently occupies roughly a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including most of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that compose the Donbas, and it described ceding the remaining controlled portions as symbolically significant for Kyiv.