Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that US negotiators promoted the idea that Ukraine would withdraw its remaining forces from the eastern Donbas region, in exchange for joining NATO.
These statements came after US President Donald Trump's envoys met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and then Ukrainian President Zelensky, as part of American efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Kiev has long sought membership in the military alliance, but the United States and other countries have previously opposed this. While Russia said that the presence of another NATO member on its borders is unacceptable.
Russia controls most of the Donbass industrial region, while Zelensky has repeatedly stressed that Ukraine is not ready to give up sovereignty over its territory.
Russia launched a comprehensive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelensky said in statements published by his office on Saturday: “The Americans raised a question: What if Ukraine joins NATO? Will Ukraine withdraw from Donbass? This was the first time this question was asked.”
The Ukrainian president added that if he receives a proposal that includes security guarantees, does not place restrictions on the Ukrainian army, and provides funding for the reconstruction of the country, he will put it to a popular referendum.
US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff headed to the Irish capital, Dublin, on Thursday to meet with Zelensky, after a round of talks with Putin in Moscow.
Statements by both Putin and Kremlin officials indicate that Russia's position on the war has not changed, and that Moscow's demands for territory and neutrality still far exceed what Ukraine is prepared to consider.
Moscow has previously proposed imposing restrictions on the size of the Ukrainian army, making territorial concessions, and ensuring Kiev's neutrality - as conditions for the peace agreement.
Ukraine rejected these restrictions, saying that such restrictions would hinder its ability to repel any future invasion of its territory.
Russia has now increased tensions, by renewing its 2021 demands for NATO: to stop any expansion in Russia’s environs; And reducing the military infrastructure in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe that joined the alliance after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Then, the United States and other Western countries rejected these Russian demands, and Moscow invaded Ukraine a few months later.
In addition, European security issues were on the agenda of the latest round of talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States in Abu Dhabi this week.
Russia insists that it will not agree to stop the fighting unless a final peace agreement is reached that includes territorial settlements, in addition to security arrangements.
In his comments, made on Friday but not made public until Saturday, Zelensky said the US proposal made him believe NATO was back on the agenda.
But he warned: "You've also caught Putin's signals, and this is a very difficult conversation."
Russia currently occupies nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including most of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbass region.
Giving up the small parts Ukraine still controls there would be of great symbolic importance for Kiev.
Zelensky previously spoke about restoring Russian-controlled territory in four regions of Ukraine, in addition to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
The latest round of talks comes after a period of tense relations between Kiev and Washington due to the Ukrainian strikes that targeted oil facilities deep in Russia, which Trump asked Ukraine to suspend in order to facilitate supplies of Russian diesel in order to reduce global fuel prices.
