US floats NATO membership for Ukraine in exchange for Donbas withdrawal, Zelensky says

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 13 that Ukrainians would have the final say on any potential deal involving Donbas, provided the U.S. and other NATO allies agree to a security package that includes guarantees from NATO and the EU.

According to Zelensky, a new American proposal under discussion would see Ukraine granted NATO membership in exchange for withdrawing from the territories it still controls in the country's east.

“The Americans raised the question: ‘What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?’ This was the first time this issue had been raised,” Zelensky told journalists.

Donbas refers to Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, a strategically vital region in the east that Russian forces have been unable to capture since 2014.

According to Zelensky, Ukraine is discussing with its partners a comprehensive security package that could be offered to Kyiv in the negotiations.

The package would include specific security guarantees from NATO and the EU, a strong Ukrainian army with an adequate number of troops, weapons and financial support for a set period of time, and a so-called Prosperity Plan, or Recovery Plan, backed by funding from clearly identified sources.

“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.

If such a proposal is made, Zelensky said he would hold an “open dialogue” with the public, adding that any deal would come “without any recognition of the occupied territories as Russian.”

“But we need specifics, and we don’t have them yet. All of this is still under discussion,” he added.

Zelensky said he had asked for security guarantees modeled on Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty “as an absolute minimum.” Washington is now saying it could be something similar to Articles 4 and 5, he added.

When Zelensky asked whether American soldiers would be deployed on Ukrainian soil under such guarantees, the U.S. side answered “No,” he said.

According to Zelensky, U.S. officials described the proposal as bilateral security guarantees similar to those Israel has.

Zelensky’s remarks come amid renewed efforts to end Russia’s full-scale war, including U.S.-mediated talks between Ukrainian and Russian representatives in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10-11.

The talks followed some of the most contentious weeks in Ukraine’s relationship with Washington, as U.S. President Donald Trump made a deal to buy Russian diesel, waived sanctions on Moscow and pressured Kyiv to stop attacking Russian oil refineries.

Ukraine has since faced disruptions to its Starshield service and military aid deliveries amid the fallout of Trump’s latest pivot toward Russia.