Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says US negotiators have suggested that Ukraine withdraw from the eastern Donbas region in exchange for NATO membership, effectively ceding the territory in return for security guarantees as part of the latest round of peace discussions with Russia. 

Speaking after two days of US-mediated talks in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi, Zelensky said the proposal was raised for the first time during the negotiations.

“The Americans raised a question: ‘What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?’” he told reporters in comments released by his office on Saturday.

Zelensky said the suggestion had put NATO membership back on the negotiating agenda, although he acknowledged that the issue would be difficult to resolve given Russia’s longstanding opposition to Ukraine joining the alliance.

Moscow has repeatedly described NATO membership for Ukraine as a red line, citing the alliance's eastward expansion as one of the reasons for launching its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Zelensky stressed that Kiev was not prepared to surrender territory.

However, he said he could put the matter to a national referendum if Ukraine received a comprehensive agreement providing security guarantees, the ability to maintain a strong and adequately funded military, and financial support for reconstruction.

The Ukrainian president also rejected Russia’s proposal to negotiate a wider European security framework before reaching an agreement to end the war.

“We cannot turn everything upside down and start by talking about changing the security framework in the world or across the continent overall, and only then talk about ending this war. This war must be ended first,” he said.

Zelensky also dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s suggestion of a local humanitarian ceasefire in Kostiantynivka, a contested city in the eastern Donetsk region.

He claimed that Moscow was seeking to secure control of the city by having Ukrainian forces withdraw.

“Putin simply wants us to leave Kostiantynivka so that they can move in and occupy the entire city that way,” he said, adding that civilians there had already been given the opportunity to evacuate.

He said Ukraine had proposed seven or eight other frontline settlements where civilians, including children, remained trapped as possible locations for humanitarian truces.

According to Zelensky, Russia preferred to treat these areas as military targets. Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians.

Russia-Ukraine peace talks begin amid escalating frontline offensives

As US-mediated negotiations between Russia and Ukraine start, both sides have intensified their military actions along the frontline.

The latest round of US-brokered negotiations ended on Wednesday without a breakthrough, but the two sides agreed to a prisoner exchange involving more than 1,000 people.

Zelensky also said US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had agreed to raise the possibility of an energy ceasefire with Putin during their meeting in Moscow on Thursday. However, he said no progress had been reported following the discussions.

In recent months, Russian forces have achieved significant territorial gains, particularly in the Donbas and Sumy regions, inflicting heavy losses on Ukrainian troops.

The war, which erupted in 2022, followed years of Western political and military meddling in Kiev that destabilized the border region and left Moscow compelled to act to safeguard its national interests and regional security.