“The only way we can cede territory to Russia is if Ukraine is allowed to join NATO” – Zelenskyy changes war stance for first time

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has suggested a ceasefire deal could be struck if the Ukrainian territory he controls could be taken “under the NATO umbrella”—allowing him to negotiate the return of the rest later “in a diplomatic way.”

In an interview with Sky News’s Stuart Ramsay, Zelenskyy was asked to respond to media reports saying one of US President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to end the war might be for Kyiv to cede the land Moscow has taken to Russia in exchange for Ukraine joining NATO.

Zelenskyy said NATO membership would have to be offered to unoccupied parts of the country in order to end the “hot phase of the war”, as long as the NATO invitation itself recognises Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders.

He appeared to accept occupied eastern parts of the country would fall outside of such a deal for the time being.

“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” he said.

“We need to do it fast. And then on the [occupied] territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.”

Zelenskyy said a ceasefire was needed to “guarantee that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will not come back” to take more Ukrainian territory.

He said NATO should “immediately” cover the part of Ukraine that remains under Kyiv’s control, something he said Ukraine needs “very much otherwise he will come back”.

In his first interview with British media since Trump’s election win, Zelenskyy was asked what he thought of the president-elect and said “we have to work with the new president” in order to “have the biggest supporter”.

“I want to work with him directly because there are different voices from people around him. And that’s why we need not to [allow] anybody around to destroy our communication,” he said.

“It will be not helpful and will be destructive. We have to try to find the new model. I want to share with him ideas and I want to hear from him.”

Asked if he had spoken to Trump, Zelenskyy said the pair had spoken in September when he was in New York, adding: “We had a conversation. It was very warm, good, constructive… It was a very good meeting and it was an important first step – now we have to prepare some meetings.”

The interview is the first time the Ukrainian leader has hinted at a ceasefire deal that would include Russian control of Ukrainian territory.

Throughout the war, he has never said he would cede any occupied Ukrainian territory to Russia – including Crimea, which Russia occupied in February 2014 and formally annexed the following month.

He said such a move is not allowed under the Ukrainian constitution and the only way it would be possible is if people in those areas agree to secede.

The furthest he has gone previously was during an interview with Le Monde in July this year, when he suggested the territories could join Russia if they voted to in a free and fair referendum.

But he said Kyiv would have to have the territory back under its control in order to hold such a vote.

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