American negotiators have supported the idea of withdrawing Ukraine’s forces from the eastern Donbas region in exchange for NATO membership, Volodyr Zelensky said.
The United States has not confirmed the Ukrainian president’s comments. An American official told the BBC that many ideas continue to be discussed, but any final agreement will have to be approved by both sides, the BBC writes.
Zelensky’s comments came after US envoys met with him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as part of US efforts to end the war between their two countries.
Kiev has long called for membership in the military alliance, but that was previously rejected by the US and others, while Russia has said another member of the military NATO at its border is unacceptable.
Russia began a full – scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently controls most of the Donbas industrial region. Zelensky has repeatedly said Ukraine was not ready to give up sovereign territory.
The Americans raised a question: What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas? ) This was the first time this was established, Zelensky said in comments released by his office on Saturday.
He went on to say that if he received a specific proposal containing security guarantees, no restrictions on the Ukrainian Army and funds for the country’s reconstruction, he would put it in a referendum.
American envoys Jared Kouchner and Steve Whitoff travelled to the Irish capital, Dublin, on Thursday to meet Zelensky after a round of talks with Putin in Moscow.
Comments by Putin and Kremlin officials suggest that Russia’s stance on war has not changed. It has earlier proposed restrictions on the size of the Ukrainian Army, territorial concessions and neutrality guaranteed by Kiev as conditions for a peace agreement.
Ukraine has rejected these suggestions, arguing that such restrictions would hinder its ability to avoid any future conquest.
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Source Layer: Signal
