Will Ukraine Give Up Donbas to Join NATO? What Zelensky Said

Volodymyr Zelensky says American negotiators have asked whether Ukraine would pull its troops out of Donbas if it were admitted to NATO. “The Americans raised a question: ‘What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?’” the Ukrainian president told journalists on Friday 13 November, in remarks his office released on Saturday. “This was the first time this had been raised.”

Ukraine has not agreed to give up Donbas to join NATO. Zelensky said Kyiv’s position that it will not retreat from its own land stands. But if the offer is confirmed, he said, “I will ask the opinion of our society: do we accept or do we not accept?” No American official had confirmed or denied the question on the record by late morning UTC on 14 November.

The disclosure came a day after Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump’s envoys in the Kremlin that the only line Russia accepts is the state border, and on the day his spokesman said Moscow had not yet decided whether Europeans may join the next round of talks. Our account of what Putin told Witkoff and Kushner on 12 November has the background.

Zelensky said on 13 November that US negotiators asked, for the first time, whether Ukraine would withdraw from Donbas in exchange for NATO membership. He said he would put a confirmed offer to Ukrainian society, “without any recognition of occupied territories as Russian”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the same day that Moscow “can decide” on a European seat once it sees Europe is ready “to contribute to the peace process”. European Council President Antonio Costa said five countries and the EU institutions will represent Europe. The White House has said nothing on the record about a Donbas-for-NATO exchange.

Zelensky spoke to journalists on Friday, after a week that took him to Copenhagen and Dublin. The question from the Americans, he said, followed the round of talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November. “That is why I believe NATO is back on the agenda,” he said. He added that Putin’s signals had been heard too, and called it “an extremely difficult conversation”.

On what he would do with a firm offer he was specific. “If the American side confirms this to us together with other NATO colleagues, then I will ask the opinion of our society: do we accept or do we not accept?” he said. “I do not have the right not to do this at my own discretion. But specifics are needed, which do not exist yet, and all of this is under discussion.”

He named the package he wants before any such question goes to the public: guarantees from NATO and the European Union, a strong army with its funding and weapons assured, and money for reconstruction. Guarantees on the model of Article 5, the alliance’s mutual defence clause, are the minimum, he said. He also said Ukraine would not write neutrality into its constitution.

One limit he set in advance. He would open “an open dialogue with society”, he said, “undoubtedly, without any recognition of occupied territories as Russian”.

Of Putin he said: “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.”

Putin had proposed to the envoys on 12 November a five-day humanitarian mission in Kostiantynivka, a town in Donetsk region he says Russian troops control. Zelensky answered on Friday. “The Russian story about the ‘civilian population’ in Kostiantynivka is Putin’s reaction to the fact that he failed to capture Kostiantynivka,” he said. “It is an absolutely primitive move, because otherwise he cannot take this city.”

He gave his reason for the choice of town: “Because after Kostiantynivka come Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.” Those are the two largest cities in Donetsk region still held by Ukraine.

On the energy truce Kyiv proposed in Abu Dhabi, he said the Russian delegation had no mandate and the American team took the question to Moscow. “As of today, it is what it is,” he said. “A ceasefire is not supported personally by Putin.”

Dmitry Peskov held his daily briefing on Friday 13 November. Asked whether talks would resume with Europeans present, he said, in the state news agency’s English: “Once we see that they genuinely intend to contribute to the peace process and are ready to do so, we can decide whether to broaden participation in the talks on a settlement in Ukraine.”

Jared Kushner had said the night before, standing beside Zelensky at an Irish airfield, that Putin was “willing to give it a try” with Europeans at the table. Peskov’s sentence leaves the decision open. He added: “If Europe has someone who is at least authorized to speak, if the Europeans truly have the desire to do so, then we will certainly be ready to talk to them.” He declined to say how Moscow would view Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, in that role.

On Kostiantynivka, Peskov asked for help against Kyiv. “We are calling on both the Americans and the Europeans,” he said, who “should also exert their influence on Ukrainians”. He said: “We know the Americans are genuinely interested.” To Kyiv’s charge that Russia would use a pause to rotate troops, he replied: “Essentially, if they believe we will use it to rotate troops, then they are agreeing that we control Konstantinovka.” Konstantinovka is the town’s Russian name.

Of the next three-way round he said: “We believe that it will take place soon enough, in the foreseeable future.”

European Union leaders ended an informal summit in Dublin on 13 November with an answer to the question they had left open the day before. Costa told a news conference that Europe will be represented by Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland together with the EU institutions. He called it “ultimately a team effort” and said: “Only Ukraine has the legitimacy to decide on matters concerning its territory and sovereignty.”

Kallas said: “I know that the Russians don’t want me, but do we have a say who is representing Russia? No, we don’t, and really we have to have a strong team.” Of Moscow she said: “They don’t want anybody strong on the other side because they want to push through their maximum demands.”

Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, spoke to Washington. “I want to state our message to the US very clearly once again: Please, no surprises,” he told reporters. Trump meets Putin and Xi Jinping in Shenzhen on 19 November. Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission president, said a 22nd sanctions package is coming: “The best way to get Russia to the table is to keep up our support for Ukraine and to keep maximum pressure on Russia.”

The first marker is Washington. Zelensky said the Americans asked; the White House said on 13 November only that Steve Witkoff and Kushner had begun work on the largest prisoner exchange of the war.

The second is the next round. Zelensky and Kushner said on 12 November that it would be in Abu Dhabi next week with Europeans present. Peskov said “soon enough” and named no date.

The third is 19 November in Shenzhen, where Merz has asked for “no surprises”.

The fourth is Kostiantynivka. Peskov said the mission would run under the two countries’ human rights commissioners “once all the security arrangements are worked out”. Zelensky has called it “primitive”.

Costa said the weeks ahead will be a decisive test of Russia’s readiness to end the war.

Zelensky did not say which American asked the question, or on what day. Whether it was an offer, a test of Kyiv’s position or one negotiator’s hypothetical is not on record. Peskov’s briefing on Friday came before the remarks were released. Neither the Kremlin nor NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, had answered them on the record by late morning UTC on 14 November.