Zelenskyy Signals Ukraine Could Forego NATO Membership in Exchange for Security Guarantees

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv could consider abandoning its bid to join NATO if the United States and European partners provide binding security guarantees, Orda.kz reports, citing The Guardian.

Zelenskyy made the remarks while responding to journalists’ questions following five hours of talks with a U.S. delegation in Berlin. The negotiations are set to continue on Monday, December 15, the agency noted. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff also confirmed the continuation of the discussions.

Ahead of the talks, Zelenskyy told reporters that Ukraine had “from the very beginning sought to join NATO,” but that some representatives of the United States and European partners did not support this aspiration.

Today, bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the United States — guarantees similar to Article 5 provided to us by the United States — as well as security guarantees from our European colleagues and other countries, including Canada and Japan, represent an opportunity to prevent another invasion. This is a compromise on our part,  Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president stressed that any such guarantees must be legally binding. He said he would comment officially on the outcome of the talks after they conclude. 

Other European leaders are also expected to arrive in Berlin that day.

Russia has long insisted that Ukraine abandon its NATO ambitions. Kyiv’s neutral status and a constitutional commitment not to join the alliance were among the Kremlin’s key demands during the Istanbul talks in April 2022 and remain central to ongoing discussions about a potential peace agreement.