US has floated Ukraine ceding Donbas for Nato membership, Zelensky says
According to the BBC, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that US negotiators have touted the idea of Ukraine withdrawing its remaining forces from the eastern Donbas region in exchange for Nato membership. Zelensky's comments came after US envoys visited Moscow and an EU summit in Dublin as part of ongoing efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Kyiv has long sought membership of the military alliance as a condition of any peace deal, while Russia has said another Nato member on its border was unacceptable. Zelensky said that if he received a proposal containing security guarantees, no constraints on Ukraine's military and funds to rebuild, he would put it to a referendum. US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff travelled to Dublin to meet Zelensky after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Comments by Putin and Kremlin officials suggest Russia's position on the war has not shifted, and demands for territory and neutrality continue to far exceed what Ukraine is prepared to consider. Russia currently occupies roughly a fifth of Ukrainian territory.