Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reportedly abandoned his country’s ambition to join NATO, signaling a major concession ahead of peace talks Sunday with U.S. officials in Berlin.
Mr. Zelenskyy told reporters in a WhatsApp chat that Ukraine has already compromised on its desire to join the 32-nation transatlantic alliance.
Russia has vehemently opposed the notion of Ukraine joining NATO. The Trump administration has expressed opposition to the idea, instead favoring in its Ukraine-Russia peace plan vague security guarantees to be offered by the U.S. and Europe to Ukraine.
The notion of NATO membership for Ukraine was seen as a major sticking point in negotiations, along with other key issues such as possible territorial concessions from Ukraine to Russia and limits on the size of Ukraine’s military.
But Mr. Zelenskyy, perhaps in an effort to show flexibility and garner goodwill with U.S. negotiators, appeared to move off the idea.
“From the very beginning, Ukraine’s desire was to join NATO, these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the U.S. and Europe did not support this direction,” Mr. Zelenskyy told reporters in the WhatsApp conversation, according to several English-language media outlets.
“Thus, today, bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the U.S., Article 5-like guarantees for us from the U.S., and security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries — Canada, Japan — are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion,” Mr. Zelenskyy said, referring to NATO’s Article 5, which equates an attack on one member of the alliance as an attack on all members.
“And it is already a compromise from our part,” Mr. Zelenskyy said.
Mr. Zelenskyy met Sunday with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, for peace talks in Berlin.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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