Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks at a Wall Street Journal event in New York in 2026. Photo: Xuthoria / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed that American negotiators raised the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO in exchange for withdrawing its forces from the eastern Donbas region — the first time Washington has put the idea to Kyiv so plainly during talks to end the war with Russia.
Zelenskyy disclosed the exchange in comments to reporters on Friday that were under embargo until Saturday, and released by his office on November 14. The question came up during this week's US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi, where Ukrainian and Russian delegations met with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
"The Americans raised a question: 'What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?' This was the first time this had been raised," Zelenskyy said, according to his office.
No offer on the table — but NATO "back on the agenda"
Zelenskyy was careful to stress that no concrete offer exists. He said Kyiv would not withdraw its troops from territory it still controls, but he would put the question to Ukrainians in a referendum if the country received a comprehensive security package first.
That package, he said, would need firm security guarantees, funding for Ukraine's armed forces and money for reconstruction — confirmed by the United States and Ukraine's NATO allies before any vote. "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?" he said. "I have no right to make that decision on my own."
According to accounts of his remarks, Washington had sketched guarantees modelled on NATO's Article 4 and Article 5 commitments, but delivered bilaterally and more like those the United States gives Israel, with no American troops stationed in Ukraine. Zelenskyy said any arrangement would not involve recognising occupied territory as Russian, and that Article 5-style protection would be "an absolute minimum."
"NATO is back on the agenda," he said — a striking shift after years in which Kyiv's membership bid had stalled and Moscow had demanded Ukraine accept permanent neutrality instead.
Zelenskyy rejects neutrality, warns on European security plan
Zelenskyy also ruled out the neutrality demand outright, saying he would not amend Ukraine's constitution to make it neutral. "If Putin expects Ukraine's neutrality to be enshrined, that's not going to happen," he said. "We're not in NATO right now anyway."
He warned that a separate idea floated by Washington — a new European security framework — could work to Moscow's advantage. Russia has used the Abu Dhabi talks to press sweeping demands, including reversing Finland's NATO membership and rolling the alliance back to its 1997 borders, demands European leaders have strongly rejected. Zelenskyy said the European Union and NATO are Europe's "only real security," and that Moscow's bid to reopen the continent's security order was "dangerous because … it is precisely things like this that lead to wars or escalations."
Ukraine's priorities in Abu Dhabi, he said, included an energy ceasefire, reopening the Black Sea, prisoner releases and preparations for a meeting between leaders to end the war. Russian negotiators, he added, said they had no mandate to decide on an energy ceasefire — and showed no willingness to accept one. The one concrete result of the talks was an agreement in principle on a prisoner exchange involving more than 1,000 people on each side, the largest of the war. European representatives are set to take part in the next round of talks.
Fighting continues as talks go on
The diplomacy unfolded against continued strikes on both sides. On Saturday, a Ukrainian drone attack killed a mother, father and their 24-month-old daughter at their home in Proletarsky, in Russia's Belgorod region about 20 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, according to Russian authorities. Russia's defence ministry said its forces intercepted 29 Ukrainian drones overnight, including several over the Moscow region.
Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 96 drones from Friday evening, of which 81 were shot down or electronically suppressed, with hits reported at eight locations and falling debris at two others. A local power supplier reported outages in parts of northeastern Sumy.
The Donbas question is the hardest in the negotiations. The region comprises Donetsk and Luhansk, two eastern Ukrainian regions partly occupied by Russia, and Moscow has long demanded a full Ukrainian withdrawal from the areas Kyiv still controls — ground its army has failed to take by force — while also opposing Ukraine joining NATO. Any pullback in exchange for membership would hand Russia territory it could not win on the battlefield, which is why Zelenskyy has tied the idea to a public vote and to guarantees he says do not yet exist in detail.
For now, the swap is only a question asked across a negotiating table, not an offer on paper. But the fact that Washington raised it at all — and that Zelenskyy chose to disclose it publicly — puts NATO membership back at the centre of the peace talks for the first time in the war.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP.