Zelensky: U.S. Floated NATO Membership if Ukraine Leaves Donbas

U.S. negotiators have floated the idea of Ukraine joining NATO in exchange for withdrawing from its remaining territory in the eastern Donbas region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, the New York Post reported in a post on X.

“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 remarks his office released Saturday, according to Reuters as published by NBC News.

US floats NATO membership for Ukraine in exchange for giving up Donbas territory https://t.co/GnfUzVNtKT pic.twitter.com/4pJxszphak

— New York Post (@nypost) November 14, 2026

Envoys met both leaders

Zelensky spoke a day after meeting U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Dublin, POLITICO Europe reported. The envoys had held a round of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow before traveling to the Irish capital, BBC News reported.

The comments followed the latest round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi, according to Reuters. The U.S., Ukraine and Russia agreed after those talks to bring as many as five European representatives directly into the negotiations, the New York Post reported, with Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland expected to take part in the next round.

Zelensky wants specifics and a referendum

Zelensky said Kyiv was not ready to concede territory, but that if it received a comprehensive package including security guarantees, the right to a strong and well-funded Ukrainian army, and funds to rebuild, he would put the question to a national referendum, Reuters reported.

“If the American side confirms precisely this to us, together with other NATO partners, 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,” Zelensky said, according to POLITICO Europe.

“But we need specifics, and we don’t have them yet. All of this is still under discussion,” he added, POLITICO Europe reported. Zelensky said any agreement would come “without any recognition of the occupied territories as Russian,” the outlet reported.

“I have said repeatedly: Ukraine is not retreating and is not giving up its land to terrorists,” Zelensky told reporters, according to POLITICO Europe.

Moscow’s red line

Putin has long called Ukrainian NATO membership a red line for Moscow and has cited the issue as one reason for launching the 2022 full-scale invasion, Reuters reported. “That is why I believe NATO is back on the agenda. But you have also heard Putin’s signals, and this is an extremely difficult conversation,” Zelensky said, according to Reuters.

Russia controls about 80% of Donetsk and nearly all of Luhansk, the two provinces that make up the Donbas, the New York Post reported, citing Nov. 11 estimates from the Institute for the Study of War. Russia occupies roughly a fifth of Ukraine’s territory overall, BBC News reported.

Giving up Donbas has long been part of proposals put forward by the Trump administration, including the 28-point peace plan the White House proposed in 2025, POLITICO Europe reported.

It is not clear the U.S. is actually proposing NATO membership, BBC News reported, noting that the White House had not replied to a request for comment. The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to POLITICO Europe’s request for comment either.

Comments from Putin and Kremlin officials suggest Russia’s position on the war has not shifted, according to BBC News, and Russia has insisted it will not stop fighting until a final peace deal is in place.

Sources

• New York Post on X
• New York Post: US floats NATO membership for Ukraine in exchange for giving up Donbas
• BBC News: US has floated Ukraine ceding Donbas for Nato membership, Zelensky says
• NBC News (Reuters): U.S. floated idea of Ukraine ceding Donbas for NATO membership, Zelenskyy says
• POLITICO Europe: US suggested Ukraine could give up Donbas for NATO membership, Zelenskyy says

Reporting by Daily Beltway.