Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a associated property league with Turkey's President pursuing their gathering astatine the Presidential Complex successful Ankara connected November 19, 2025.
Ozan Kose | AFP | Getty Images
Ukraine has relinquished its ambition of joining the NATO subject confederation successful speech for Western information guarantees arsenic a compromise to extremity the warfare with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said up of talks with U.S. envoys successful Berlin.
The determination marks a large displacement for Ukraine, which has fought to articulation NATO arsenic a safeguard against Russian attacks and has specified an aspiration included successful its constitution. It besides meets 1 of Russia's warfare aims, though Kyiv has truthful acold held steadfast against ceding territory to Moscow.
Zelenskyy said connected Sunday that the U.S., European, and different partners' information guarantees, alternatively of NATO membership, were a compromise connected Ukraine's side.
"From the precise beginning, Ukraine's tendency was to articulation NATO, these are existent information guarantees. Some partners from the US and Europe did not enactment this direction," helium said successful reply to questions from reporters successful a WhatsApp chat.
"Thus, today, bilateral information guarantees betwixt Ukraine and the US, Article 5-like guarantees for america from the US, and information guarantees from European colleagues, arsenic good arsenic different countries — Canada, Japan — are an accidental to forestall different Russian invasion," Zelenskyy said.
"And it is already a compromise from our part," helium said, adding that the information guarantees should beryllium legally binding.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine officially renounce its NATO ambitions and retreat troops from astir 10% of Donbas, which Kyiv inactive controls. Moscow has besides said that Ukraine indispensable beryllium a neutral state and that nary NATO troops tin beryllium stationed successful Ukraine.
Russian sources said earlier this twelvemonth that Putin wants a "written" pledge by large Western powers not to enlarge the U.S.-led NATO confederation eastwards — shorthand for formally ruling retired rank to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and different erstwhile Soviet republics.
Zelenskyy had earlier called for a "dignified" bid and guarantees that Russia would not onslaught Ukraine again arsenic helium prepared to conscionable U.S. envoys and European allies successful Berlin to extremity Europe's deadliest struggle since World War II.
Under unit from U.S. President Donald Trump to motion a bid woody that initially backed Moscow's demands, Zelenskyy accused Russia of dragging retired the warfare done deadly bombings of cities and Ukraine's powerfulness and h2o supplies.
Although the nonstop make-up of the meetings connected Sunday and Monday has not been made public, a U.S. authoritative said Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were travelling to Germany for talks involving Ukrainians and Europeans.
The prime to nonstop Witkoff, who has led negotiations with Ukraine and Russia connected a U.S. bid proposal, appeared to beryllium a awesome that Washington saw a accidental of advancement astir 4 years aft Russia's 2022 invasion.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine, the Europeans, and the U.S. are looking astatine a 20-point plan, and that astatine the extremity of this, determination is simply a ceasefire. He said Kyiv has nary nonstop talks with Russia.
Zelenskyy said a ceasefire on the existent beforehand lines would beryllium a just option.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is hosting Zelenskyy and European leaders for a acme successful the German superior connected Monday, the latest successful a bid of nationalist shows of enactment for the Ukrainian person from allies crossed Europe.
'Critical moment'
Britain, France and Germany person been moving to refine the U.S. proposals, which, successful a draught disclosed past month, called for Kyiv to cede much territory, wantonness its ambition to articulation NATO and judge limits connected its equipped forces.
European allies person described this arsenic a "critical moment" that could signifier Ukraine's future, and sought to enactment up Kyiv's finances by leveraging frozen Russian cardinal slope assets to money Kyiv's subject and civilian budget.
Putin hosted Witkoff and Kushner astatine a gathering earlier successful December that the Kremlin praised arsenic "constructive," though nary large breakthroughs were reached.
Zelenskyy said hundreds of thousands were inactive without powerfulness aft Russian strikes connected energy, heating and h2o supplies crossed swathes of Ukraine, posting pictures of burning and destroyed buildings.
"Russia is dragging retired the warfare and seeks to inflict arsenic overmuch harm arsenic imaginable connected our people," helium said.
Russia's full-scale penetration of Ukraine successful 2022 caused relations with the West to plummet and has cranked up warnings from NATO and European leaders that Putin would not halt there.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said successful a code successful Berlin connected Thursday that NATO should beryllium "prepared for the standard of warfare our grandparents oregon great-grandparents endured" and asserted that "we are Russia's adjacent target."
The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed specified claims.
"This seems similar a connection by a typical of a procreation that has managed to hide what World War Two was really like," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told authorities tv newsman Pavel Zarubin connected Sunday.
"They person nary understanding, and unfortunately, Mr. Rutte, making specified irresponsible statements, simply does not recognize what helium is talking about," Peskov added.
English (US) ·