Zelensky assures that the US has offered Ukraine to join NATO in exchange for giving up Donbas

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has explained that United States negotiators have raised the possibility of accepting Ukraine into NATO in exchange for it giving up Donbas and handing it over to Russia.

"The Americans have raised the question that Ukraine would withdraw from Donbas if it joins NATO. This is the first time they have said this," Zelensky explained in statements to the press.

Zelensky has responded that he would submit it to a referendum if the proposal included security guarantees, that there were no limits for the Ukrainian Army and funds for the reconstruction of the country. "I don't have the right to decide it alone. I need specificity, which is still missing, and all of this is being debated," he said.

US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff traveled to Dublin on Thursday to meet with Zelensky following contacts held the previous day with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Until now Washington had ruled out Ukraine's entry into NATO, while Moscow demands neutrality and limits on Ukrainian military forces, in addition to the relinquishment of territories, as a basis for any agreement.

"NATO is back on the table," Zelensky said. "You have also heard what Putin says. This is an extremely difficult conversation," he warned.

Zelensky has also indicated that the Americans have conveyed to kyiv that Russia wants "another different security structure" for Europe. "I think it could be dangerous. I think the Americans have raised this due to Russian influence," he argued. And he recalled that in 2021 Putin proposed to Joe Biden "the redistribution of forces in Europe and around the world, weakening or withdrawing NATO troops and withdrawal of US troops."

On the other hand, the Ukrainian president has assured that Russia wants to launch a "humanitarian operation" in Konstantinovka under the pretext of protecting the civilian population, but with the ultimate objective of occupying the city and opening the way to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

"Putin simply wants us to leave Konstantinivka and for them to come in and occupy it entirely" after a year and a half of fruitless attempts, he stated. "I have conveyed my position to the American negotiators: the people there are only citizens of Ukraine with weapons and citizens of Russia, occupiers, also with weapons," he explained.