US proposed ceding Ukraine territory in exchange for joining NATO

President Volodymyr Zelensky said 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 Friday in comments embargoed until Saturday.

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.”

‘Dangerous’

Ukraine’s Presiudent Volodymyr Zelensky said the EU and NATO are Europe’s only “real security”, warning the Kremlin’s bid to change the continent’s security architecture could lead to more wars.

“This is dangerous because, in my view, it is precisely things like this that lead to wars or escalations,” Zelensky told reporters Friday in comments only releasable on Saturday. “Real security in Europe means the EU and NATO. That’s it. There is no other security in Europe.”

Russia’ winter war

Russia is “betting everything” on this winter’s campaign in its war with Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in comments released Saturday as he called for a US military package that would pressure President Vladimir Putin to end the fighting.

“They are betting everything on this winter,” Zelensky told the media Friday in comments kept under embargo. He said the US Congress adopting “sanctions and weapons” legislation would be “the kind of motivation Putin needs” to de-escalate.