The Ukrainian president, who meets the American envoy in Berlin, admits having given up joining the alliance, but refuses to cede territory and demands security guarantees from European and American allies. Ukraine has abandoned its goal of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance in exchange for security guarantees, as a commitment to ending the war with Russia, President Volodimir Zelensky said on Sunday (14/12).
Zelenskiy announced the concession as he traveled to the German capital Berlin, where he began meetings with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in a bid to end the conflict on his territory.
The move represents a significant shift for Ukraine, which had been struggling to join NATO to protect itself from Russian attacks and had even enshrined the aspiration in its constitution. This also serves one of Russia’s goals, although kyiv has so far resisted ceding territory to Moscow.
Zelenski met the US envoys in talks hosted by German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who made brief comments before leaving the two sides to negotiate. Other European leaders are also expected to arrive in Germany for negotiations which will continue on Monday.
During the most recent negotiations, Washington suggested creating a “free economic zone” in eastern Ukraine if kyiv agreed to cede the Donetsk region. Discussions now continue to focus on key issues such as territorial concessions, security guarantees and the use of frozen Russian assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine. After hours of conversations, Zelenski left the scene on Sunday evening.
Zelensky calls for “article 5” for Ukraine
Before the start of negotiations, the Ukrainian president said that receiving security guarantees from the United States, Europe and other partners, instead of joining NATO, represented a commitment on Ukraine’s part.
“From the beginning, Ukraine’s wish was to join NATO, these are real security guarantees. Some American and European partners did not support this direction,” he said in response to journalists’ questions.
“So today, bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the United States, Article 5-type guarantees from the United States and security guarantees from our European colleagues as well as other countries – Canada, Japan – are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion,” Zelensky said. “Article 5” is a NATO provision that treats an armed attack against one member as an attack against the entire group, allowing the defense to also be collective.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine formally abandon its NATO membership ambitions and withdraw its troops from the roughly 10% of Donbass that kyiv still controls. Moscow also said Ukraine must be a neutral country and no troops from alliance countries can be stationed on Ukrainian territory.
Russian sources said earlier this year that Putin wanted to secure a “written” promise from major Western powers not to expand the U.S.-led alliance eastward — in other words, to formally exclude Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics from membership.
American pressure
Under pressure from Trump to sign a peace deal that initially supported Moscow’s demands, Zelensky accused Russia of prolonging the war with deadly bombings of cities and Ukraine’s energy and water reserves.
The dispatch of Witkoff, who led negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on a US peace proposal, appears to indicate that Washington sees a chance for progress. The envoy said there had been “great progress” in this Sunday’s talks.
The United Kingdom, France and Germany are working to refine the American proposals. The previous draft also required Zelensky to limit the number of men in his armed forces.
gq (Reuters, AFP)
About The Author
