“President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed abandoning Ukraine’s aspiration to join the NATO military Alliance during five-hour talks with U.S. representatives in Berlin”, - Reuters reports, as cited by the Telegram channel ZN.ua.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said that “significant progress has been achieved” after he and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Zelensky as part of another attempt to end the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II, although full details were not disclosed.
Zelensky’s adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said that the president would comment on the talks on Monday after they conclude. According to Lytvyn, officials are reviewing draft documents.
On the eve of the talks, Zelensky proposed abandoning the goal of Ukraine’s accession to NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees.
This step represents a significant change in Ukraine’s position, which had sought NATO membership as a means of preventing russian attacks and had enshrined this goal in its Constitution. It also corresponds to one of russia’s military demands, although Kyiv continues to refuse to cede territory to moscow.
The talks were hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who, according to one source, made brief opening remarks and then left the delegations to negotiate.
Other European leaders are also expected to arrive in Germany on Monday.
“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. Therefore, now bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the U.S., guarantees similar to Article 5 from the U.S., as well as security guarantees from European partners and countries such as Canada and Japan, are an opportunity to prevent a new russian invasion”, - Zelensky said, answering journalists’ questions in a WhatsApp chat.
“And this is already a compromise on our part”, - he added, emphasizing that the guarantees must be legally binding.