The Ukrainian president said Kyiv is prepared to forgo NATO membership in exchange for binding Western security guarantees but insists Ukraine must hold its current lines as peace talks intensify in Berlin.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Ukraine is prepared to drop its long-standing bid to join NATO in exchange for firm Western security guarantees, but he rejected proposals that would require Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia as diplomatic efforts to end the war intensified in Berlin.
Zelenskyy made the remarks as he arrived at the German Chancellery ahead of expected talks with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The meetings are part of a broader series of discussions involving Ukrainian, U.S., and European officials aimed at securing a political agreement to end the conflict.
Speaking in audio messages shared with journalists via a WhatsApp group before the talks, Zelenskyy said that because the United States and several European nations have opposed Ukraine’s NATO membership, Kyiv now expects alternative guarantees comparable to those afforded to alliance members.
“These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression,” Zelenskyy said. “And this is already a compromise on our part.”
He emphasized that any such guarantees would need to be legally binding and backed by the U.S. Congress. Zelenskyy said he was awaiting an update from his team following a meeting between Ukrainian and U.S. military officials in Stuttgart, Germany. He added that he planned to meet separately with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and possibly other European leaders later Sunday.
Washington has spent months attempting to bridge the gap between Kyiv and Moscow as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly frustrated by stalled negotiations. Talks have repeatedly faltered over key issues, including the future of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, much of which is occupied by Russian forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the remaining Ukrainian-held areas of Donetsk as a condition for peace, a demand Kyiv has rejected.
Zelenskyy said the United States had floated a proposal under which Ukraine would withdraw from Donetsk and establish a demilitarized free economic zone there, an idea he dismissed as unworkable.
“I do not consider this fair, because who will manage this economic zone?” he said. “If Ukrainian troops withdraw 5 to 10 kilometers, for example, then why do Russian troops not withdraw deeper into the occupied territories by the same distance?”
Calling the issue “very sensitive,” Zelenskyy said the only viable option was a freeze along the current line of contact. “Today a fair possible option is we stand where we stand,” he said.
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told the Russian business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard forces would remain in parts of the Donetsk region even if they were designated a demilitarized zone under a future peace plan.
Ushakov warned that the search for compromise could take considerable time, saying U.S. proposals that had incorporated Russian demands were later “worsened” by changes introduced by Ukraine and its European partners.
“We don’t know what changes they are making, but clearly they aren’t for the better,” Ushakov said. “We will strongly insist on our considerations.”
In remarks broadcast Sunday on Russian state television, Ushakov said Moscow did not view Ukrainian and European input on draft proposals as constructive and warned that Russia would raise “very strong objections.” He added that territorial issues were discussed during earlier meetings in Moscow between Putin and Witkoff and Kushner, saying, “The Americans know and understand our position.”
Chancellor Merz, who has led European support for Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Saturday that Europe can no longer rely on long-standing security assumptions.
“The decades of the ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well,” Merz said. He warned that Putin seeks “a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders,” adding, “If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop.” Putin has denied any such ambitions.
Even as diplomacy continued, fighting intensified. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched ballistic missiles and 138 attack drones overnight, intercepting or downing 110 of them, though strikes were recorded at six locations.
Zelenskyy said hundreds of thousands of families remained without electricity in southern, eastern, and northeastern regions as crews worked to restore power, heat, and water following large-scale attacks. He said Russia had launched more than 1,500 strike drones, nearly 900 guided aerial bombs, and 46 missiles over the past week.
“Ukraine needs peace on decent terms, and we are ready to work as constructively as possible,” Zelenskyy said. “These days will be filled with diplomacy. It’s very important that it brings results.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 235 Ukrainian drones late Saturday and early Sunday. In Russia’s Belgorod region, a drone injured a man and set his house on fire in the village of Yasnye Zori, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov.
Ukrainian drones also struck an oil depot in Uryupinsk in Russia’s Volgograd region, triggering a fire, regional Gov. Andrei Bocharov said. In the Krasnodar region, drones hit the town of Afipsky, shattering windows in residential buildings, though authorities reported no damage to the local oil refinery.
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