The United States has raised the possibility of Ukraine giving up its remaining territory in the eastern Donbas region in exchange for membership in NATO, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday. The disclosure, the first time such a trade has been put to Kyiv in the talks, immediately reopened one of the most sensitive questions of the war: whether land can buy lasting security.
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| Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He told reporters on Friday that US negotiators raised the idea of Ukraine withdrawing from Donbas in exchange for NATO membership. (File photo) |
Zelenskyy said American negotiators floated the idea during the latest round of US-brokered peace talks with Russia, which were held in Abu Dhabi earlier in the week. Speaking to journalists on Friday in remarks released by his office on Saturday, he quoted the question directly. "The Americans raised a question: 'What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?' This was the first time this had been raised," he said, according to Reuters and CNN.
The Ukrainian leader was careful to stress that no deal had been struck and no territory had been offered. He said Kyiv was not prepared to surrender land, but added that if Washington and its NATO partners spelled out a comprehensive security package, he would put the question to the Ukrainian people. "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? I have no right to make that decision on my own. But we need specifics, and we don't have them yet."
What Happened in Abu Dhabi
The latest round of US-mediated negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian representatives took place in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday. The talks ended without a major breakthrough, according to reports, but the two sides did agree to a prisoner exchange involving more than 1,000 people.
Zelenskyy spoke with US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in Ireland on Thursday, the day after the Abu Dhabi round concluded, according to the New York Post. It was after those discussions that he disclosed the Donbas question to reporters, on condition that his remarks not be published until the following day.
The disclosure came as diplomatic activity around the war intensified on several fronts, with European governments also pressing for a united position ahead of any further talks.
Why the Idea Matters
The Donbas question matters because it connects two issues that have defined the war since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022: territory and security guarantees. The Donbas — the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine — is the industrial heartland Moscow has sought to control, and it is also the place where Ukraine has said it will not yield ground.
NATO membership has long been Kyiv's preferred guarantee against another invasion. For Ukraine, joining the alliance would mean that any future attack would trigger the collective defence of more than 30 allies. For Washington, the idea of offering membership in exchange for a territorial concession appears to be an attempt to break a diplomatic deadlock: give Kyiv the security it demands, and give Moscow the land it demands, in a single package.
Former US Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor told CNN that finally entering NATO could be the security guarantee Ukraine needs to accept a ceasefire. But he also pointed out a basic problem with the idea: the offer is not Washington's alone to make. Bringing a new country into NATO requires the unanimous consent of every existing member state, and several allies have long been wary of admitting a country at war.
Zelenskyy himself acknowledged the difficulty. "That is why I believe NATO is back on the agenda," he said. "But you have also heard Putin's signals, and this is an extremely difficult conversation."
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| NATO headquarters in Brussels, with the flags of member states flying outside. Admitting Ukraine would require the unanimous consent of all alliance members. (NATO photo) |
The Obstacles
The obstacles to any Donbas-for-NATO exchange are formidable, and they begin in Moscow. Putin has repeatedly said Ukrainian membership in NATO is a red line, citing the issue as one of the reasons for launching the full-scale invasion in 2022. He has demanded total control of the Donbas alongside permanent Ukrainian neutrality — the opposite of what the reported American question would deliver.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to Zelenskyy's disclosure on Saturday, according to the New York Post. But Russia's stated position leaves little room for compromise: Moscow wants the territory and wants Ukraine kept out of the alliance, while the reported proposal would trade the territory for the very membership Moscow opposes.
There are legal and political obstacles in Kyiv as well. Zelenskyy said any arrangement would exclude formal recognition of occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian, and he has said a national referendum would be necessary before Ukrainians accepted any settlement involving territory. Under Ukraine's constitution, changing the country's borders or its international alignment is not a decision a president can make alone.
NATO's own rules add a further complication. The alliance has never admitted a member with an unresolved territorial dispute, and the unanimity requirement means that a single sceptical ally could block Ukraine's accession — however strongly Washington supported it.
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| War-damaged apartment buildings in eastern Ukraine. Russia controls most of the Donbas region, while Ukraine still holds about a fifth of Donetsk province. (Getty Images via NPR) |
The State of the Battlefield
The territory at the centre of the proposal is largely, but not entirely, in Russian hands. According to estimates published on November 11 by the US-based Institute for the Study of War, Russian forces control about 80 percent of Donetsk province and nearly all of Luhansk. Ukrainian forces retain control of approximately 20 percent of Donetsk and less than one percent of Luhansk.
That means the concession Washington reportedly asked about would involve Ukraine withdrawing from the towns and defensive positions it still holds in the Donbas — the last Ukrainian-controlled ground in a region Russia has fought over since 2014. Ukrainian commanders have long argued that those positions, built up over years of fighting, are among the strongest defensive lines in the country, and that giving them up would leave the rest of Ukraine harder to defend.
For Moscow, by contrast, full control of the Donbas has been a stated war aim since the early months of the invasion, and Russian forces have spent much of the past year grinding forward in Donetsk province without fully achieving it.
What This Means
The significance of Zelenskyy's disclosure lies less in what was agreed — nothing was — than in what it reveals about where American diplomacy is heading. For the first time, according to the Ukrainian president, Washington has explicitly linked the two questions that have run through every round of talks: what Ukraine gives up, and what Ukraine gets in return.
The framing matters. The Americans raised a question, not a formal proposal. No document has been published, no NATO ally has endorsed the idea, and the United States has not publicly confirmed Zelenskyy's account. Reports based solely on the Ukrainian president's remarks should be read as his characterisation of the conversation, not as a confirmed US policy position.
Even so, the fact that the question was asked at all suggests the Trump administration is searching for a formula that could end the war before the end of the year. Previous American proposals have focused on ceasefires, territorial freezes, and security guarantees short of NATO membership. Tying membership itself to a territorial concession is a step further — and a sign of how far Washington may be willing to go to close a deal.
What Happens Next
The immediate question is whether Washington will confirm or elaborate on Zelenskyy's account. No response from the US government had been reported as of Saturday, and it is not known which American officials raised the question or whether it reflects a settled position or an exploratory probe.
European allies will also have a say. Any NATO membership offer would need their unanimous backing, and several European governments have insisted that Ukraine's borders cannot be redrawn by force. Their reaction in the coming days will show whether the idea has any life beyond the negotiating room.
The talks themselves are expected to continue. The Abu Dhabi round produced a prisoner exchange but no breakthrough, and further rounds are likely as the Trump administration pushes for a settlement. Zelenskyy has said he wants specifics before he will take any proposal to the Ukrainian people — and for now, he says, those specifics do not exist.
For the Donbas, the war goes on. Russian forces continue to press in Donetsk province, Ukrainian troops continue to hold their remaining ground, and the question the Americans raised — land for membership — remains exactly that: a question, unanswered, with no agreement behind it.
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