United States negotiators have raised the possibility of Ukraine withdrawing from its eastern Donbas region in exchange for joining NATO, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in remarks released by his office on Saturday — the first time, he said, that the question had been put to Kyiv in that form.
Source: AAP / AP, Nov 14, 2026
"The Americans raised a question: 'What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?' This was the first time this had been raised," Zelenskiy told reporters, according to remarks released by his office.
Source: AAP / AP, Nov 14, 2026
"That is why I believe NATO is back on the agenda. But you have also heard (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's signals, and this is an extremely difficult conversation," he said.
Source: AAP / AP, Nov 14, 2026
Kyiv's position: no retreat, but a referendum is possible
Zelenskiy reiterated that Kyiv is not willing to retreat from its territory. But he said that if Ukraine received a comprehensive security package — including security guarantees, a strong and well-funded Ukrainian army and funds to rebuild — he would put the question to a referendum.
Source: AAP / AP, Nov 14, 2026
A second account of the remarks noted that Zelenskiy has asked European allies to decide by the end of November who will speak for Europe in the peace talks, and that Russia's demand for the rest of Donbas remains unchanged. The two days of talks in Abu Dhabi this week produced agreement on a major prisoner swap but no territorial breakthrough.
Source: Raydn summary of Zelenskiy remarks, Nov 14, 2026
Europe has already named its team for the next round of the talks after the Dublin meeting. Read: Europe names E5 team for Ukraine peace talks
Why the NATO question is so difficult
Russia has made Ukrainian neutrality a core demand: Moscow insists Ukraine must abandon its NATO bid, and reporting from the Abu Dhabi round said Russian negotiators also pressed wider demands on Europe's security order — including, according to Germany's Bild newspaper, that Finland leave NATO and that the alliance abandon bases in the Baltic states. The Kremlin denied the Finland demand and Finland rejected it outright.
Source: AAP / AP, Nov 14, 2026
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pushed back on reopening Europe's security architecture in Dublin: "Russia wants to talk about questions of European security architecture. We don't need to talk about that. There is one," he said, referring to NATO. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc must insist on a ceasefire first, warning that discussing Russia's security-architecture demands risked walking into a trap set by Moscow.
Source: AAP / AP, Nov 14, 2026
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner briefed Putin in the Kremlin and Zelenskiy in Dublin in person after the Abu Dhabi round, and more talks are planned. Kushner said Russia has agreed to include European countries in upcoming talks, which he said would let negotiators address postwar European security arrangements alongside the territorial questions.
Source: AAP / AP, Nov 14, 2026
What happens next rests on two unresolved questions: whether Washington's NATO question was a trial balloon or a formal proposal — Zelenskiy's office presented it as a question raised, not an offer tabled — and whether Moscow, which has demanded the opposite outcome on NATO, engages with it at all. For now, the Donbas remains the deal's hardest point, and any Ukrainian decision on territory, Zelenskiy says, would ultimately go to Ukrainian voters.
Source: AAP / AP, Nov 14, 2026