US suggested idea of Ukraine ceding Donbas for membership of Nato, says Zelenskiy

US negotiators ‌have floated the idea of Ukraine’s potential withdrawal from its eastern region of Donbas in exchange for joining Nato, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, following the latest round of peace talks with Russia in Abu Dhabi.This ​is the first time the question of linking Nato membership to territorial concessions has been raised during the talks, Zelenskiy said in remarks to reporters released by his office on Saturday.“The Americans raised a question: ‘What if Ukraine joins Nato? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?’ ” he said.“That is why I believe Nato is back on the agenda. But you have also heard [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s signals, and ​this is an extremely difficult conversation.”READ MOREPutin has long said Ukrainian membership of Nato is a red line for Moscow, citing the issue as one reason for launching Russia’s full-blown invasion in 2022.Zelenskiy reiterated ⁠his position that Kyiv was not ready to concede territory but said 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.Echoing comments made by European leaders at a summit in Dublin on Friday, Zelenskiy dismissed Russia’s call ⁠for a broad agreement on European security architecture to be reached ​before the specifics are agreed on how to end the war in Ukraine.“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.Zelenskiy ​also dismissed Putin’s suggestion for a local humanitarian ceasefire in Kostiantynivka, a hotly contested city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, saying it reflected Moscow’s inability to ⁠take the city by force. Civilians there have already had the ⁠opportunity to evacuate, he added.“Putin simply wants ​us to leave Kostiantynivka so that they can move in and occupy the entire city that way,” he said.Ukraine has given a list of seven or eight other frontline settlements where civilians, including children, are trapped for a potential humanitarian truce but Russia prefers to use them as military targets, Zelenskiy said.Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians in the war.The two days of US-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia concluded on Wednesday in the Emirati capital without a major breakthrough, though the sides agreed to a prisoner exchange that will involve more than 1,000 people, Zelenskiy said.The final numbers for the prisoner swap were still under discussion, he added.US peace envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner ‌had pledged to raise an energy ceasefire with ⁠Putin at a meeting in Moscow on Thursday, Zelenskiy said, but there was no news of any progress after their talks.“Putin personally does not support a ceasefire,” he said.Zelenskiy met Witkoff and Kushner on Thursday in Dublin after their talks in Moscow. He said ‌the US negotiators had told him that all sides had agreed for Europe to have a seat at the negotiating table in forthcoming peace talks.In Abu Dhabi, delegates from Europe – which is ​now Ukraine’s largest financial and military backer – had talks with US and Ukrainian officials but did not sit at ​the table with Russia.At the summit in Dublin, EU leaders agreed that Europe’s team for any Ukraine peace talks would comprise five major military powers – non-EU member Britain plus France, Germany, Italy and Poland – as well as EU officials. A Starlink terminal camouflaged with a net near the eastern frontline in the Donetsk region of Ukraine in the summer of 2023. Photograph: Sasha Maslov/The New York Times Also on Saturday, Zelenskiy escalated his criticism ‌of SpaceX, saying speed restrictions on its military-grade Starshield satellite terminals had dangerous ‌political implications and undermined critical air defences.Zelenskiy said Starshield terminals operating in temporarily Russian-occupied territories ​of Ukraine had been limited to a maximum speed of 161 kp/h for the past five days, hampering Ukraine’s military capabilities.The Ukrainian defence ministry has raised the issue ​with SpaceX at the institutional level, Zelenskiy said.“The restrictions have now been in place ⁠for five days. They say it is some kind of technical ‌issue. ‌We ​do not believe that is the case,” Zelenskiy told reporters in remarks released by his office on ⁠Saturday.“If you impose restrictions ​there, you are already partially recognising the ​temporarily occupied territories as not ours. And that is why I ‌believe we have the right to ​raise this issue and restore the speed – so that there are ⁠no restrictions at all.”Zelenskiy said ⁠the speed ​restrictions made it more difficult for Ukrainian air defence units to intercept Russian jet-powered drones and made Ukrainian cities more vulnerable. He said he had ordered his top military and foreign ministry officials to address the issue and seek clarification.SpaceX has pushed back against the allegations, denying that it introduced new restrictions ‌or made any changes ⁠to its satellite operations.It is the second such outage in recent weeks. In mid-October, Ukrainian officials said that SpaceX limited ‌the speed of Starlink and its Starshield communication systems to about 160km/h amid ​tensions with US president Donald Trump’s administration over ​Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries. Service was then restored on October 24. – Reuters(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026