Zelensky says US proposed Ukraine cede Donbas in exchange for NATO membership

By AFP Today, 11:54 am

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to the media at the airport in Dublin, November 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that the United States proposed Ukraine cede land to Russia in exchange for joining NATO and that his government was in talks on “specific” security guarantees from the West.

“The Americans raised a question: ‘What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?’ This was the first time this had been raised,” Zelensky told reporters yesterday in comments embargoed until today.

He said Ukraine was discussing “specific security guarantees from NATO and the EU” and that if Western countries confirmed them, “then I will ask our Ukrainian society what it thinks: do we accept it or not? I have no right to make that decision on my own.”