Ukranian President Zelensky has offered to drop Ukraine’s aspirations to join the NATO.
This is the latest development after five hours of talks with US envoys (notably Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner) in Berlin on Sunday, and the only tangible claim made so far.
Zelensky’s advisor Dmytro Lytvyn told the world to wait for further comment on Zelensky’s behalf as draft documents for the twenty-point peace plan are being edited.
Accounts say that he was already starting to consider this move before the talks — but only in exchange for western security guarantees.
This is painful for Ukraine, a country for which adherence to NATO has been such a powerful goal that it is mentioned in the constitution.
So far, the comments made by Zelensky on the matter suggest that he realized that Ukraine didn’t have as many allies in achieving this dream as previously thought: “From the very beginning, Ukraine’s desire was to join Nato: these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the US and Europe did not support this direction”.
This comes in the context of Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, holding the talks. Britain and France have teamed up with Germany to refine American drafts.
In talks, Russia has insisted that Ukraine will be a neutral country with no Nato troops ever stationed on its territory.
Vladimir Putin is actually pushing western powers to sign a memorandum declaring that former Soviet republics will not be included in Nato.
Importantly, Zelensky has also said that it is fair enough to “stay where we are” — in other words, to establish a ceasefire along current lines, with Russia having occupied much of the depopulated Donbas.
