Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at 10 Downing Street, London, 8 December 2025. Photo: EPA / TOLGA AKMEN
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he is prepared to drop his country’s demand for NATO membership in exchange for firmer security guarantees from the US and Europe, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Sunday, ahead of peace talks between US, European, and Ukrainian delegations in Berlin.
The decision represents a significant shift in Ukraine’s position, as Kyiv has long argued that only NATO membership could sufficiently safeguard Ukraine against future Russian aggression, and even has the goal of membership enshrined in its constitution.
According to the FT, Zelensky told reporters that any such concession would be conditional on Ukraine receiving security guarantees from the US and Europe equivalent to the collective defence protections laid out in NATO’s Article 5.
“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,” Zelensky told journalists in a WhatsApp group chat in response to their questions.
“Thus, today, bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the US, Article 5-like guarantees for us from the US, and security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries — Canada, Japan — are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion,” Zelenskiy said.
The move comes ahead of a meeting with European leaders and US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in Berlin on Sunday, at which Brussels and Kyiv are expected to push the White House to make further changes to its plan for peace in Ukraine.
While speaking to journalists prior to the negotiations, Zelensky also said that Kyiv would insist on freezing the front lines as they currently stand, a recent sticking point in negotiations, according to Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe.
“The US has said, let’s make this compromise, the Russian army will not enter parts of our East, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine will leave [the Donbas]. I don’t think this is fair," Zelensky said.
Moscow has maintained that the war can only end if Ukrainian forces withdraw from the country’s eastern Donetsk region, including the estimated 25% of the region not currently under Russian control.
