Give Donbas, take NATO seat: Could new US pitch work for Ukraine, Russia?

Resumen detallado

Ukraine's NATO ambition has always been a red line for the Kremlin. Giving up territory has been a no-no for Ukraine.

The United States has pitched a new pathway for Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an aspiration that Kyiv has long held as a means to guarantee its defence against Russia, almost five years into their war.

But the administration of President Donald Trump has suggested that Ukraine would need to agree to give up all of the Donbas region in the country’s east, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded as one of his conditions for ending the war.

The idea, according to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was communicated to him by Trump’s negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the latest round of US-mediated peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, last week.

After the Abu Dhabi round of talks, Kushner and Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Thursday, then briefed Zelenskyy in Dublin, before a meeting of European leaders in the Irish capital on Friday.

Ukraine applied to become a member of NATO in September 2022, seeking to fortify its borders with Russia.

But the Kremlin has repeatedly said Ukraine becoming a member of NATO would demand “a harsh response” from Russia.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy told reporters that Kushner and Witkoff had suggested that Ukraine could become a NATO member if it ceded control of Donbas in the east.

He said, “The Americans raised a question: ‘What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?'”

“NATO is back on the agenda” since it is part of an “extremely difficult” conversation between Ukraine and Russia which would determine the future of European security, Zelenskyy said.

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