{"id":603578,"date":"2026-11-14T14:44:58","date_gmt":"2026-11-14T11:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=603578"},"modified":"2026-11-14T16:02:29","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T13:02:29","slug":"zelenskyy-us-for-the-first-time-proposed-that-ukraine-withdraw-from-donbas-in-exchange-for-nato-membership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/zelenskyy-us-for-the-first-time-proposed-that-ukraine-withdraw-from-donbas-in-exchange-for-nato-membership","title":{"rendered":"Zelenskyy: US For The First Time Proposed That Ukraine Withdraw From Donbas In Exchange For NATO Membership"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/b> said preparations were under way for a large-scale prisoner exchange with Russia under a \u201cmore than 1,000 for more than 1,000\u201d formula, and that an agreement had been reached on the participation of European representatives in the next peace talks. The Ukrainian leader made the statements during a meeting with journalists, RBC-Ukraine reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He also spoke about new US proposals to resolve the war, problems with Starshield satellite communications and preparations for additional military aid packages.<\/p>\n

According to Zelenskyy, following a visit by a US delegation to Moscow, the parties agreed on a prisoner exchange involving \u201cmore than 1,000 for more than 1,000.\u201d The exact number of people involved is now being determined and could range from 1,200 to 1,300 on each side.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian president said the US and Russia had agreed to include European representatives in the trilateral negotiating format. European countries are expected to select their representatives by the end of November. There will likely be between three and five of them, with Ukraine to approve the final composition.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext time, Europe will not be in the next room but at the negotiating table, and we will have a common agenda. Most likely, there will be three, four or five people representing Europe as a whole,\u201d<\/i> Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n

At the same time, he said, Russia continues to reject a ceasefire, including an energy truce.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutin personally does not support a ceasefire,\u201d<\/i> he stressed.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy also warned against attempts to revise the European security architecture before the war ends. He said a ceasefire, an end to the war and security guarantees for Ukraine must come first.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears that in 2021 Putin brought Biden precisely this idea: a redistribution of forces in Europe and the world, weakening or withdrawing NATO troops, and withdrawing US troops. Any such changes are very dangerous,\u201d<\/i> the Ukrainian leader said.<\/p>\n

According to Zelenskyy, US negotiators raised for the first time the possibility of Ukraine withdrawing from Donbas in exchange for NATO membership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Americans asked: \u2018What if Ukraine joins NATO and withdraws from Donbas?\u2019 This was the first time. We are discussing a comprehensive security package with our partners. If the American side confirms this to us, together with other NATO colleagues, I will ask our society what it thinks: do we accept it or not?\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine would not recognize the occupied territories as Russian. He said such proposals could be discussed with Ukrainian society, but only if a specific and comprehensive package of security guarantees were provided. It should include commitments from NATO and the European Union, funding for the Ukrainian army and a plan for the country’s reconstruction.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian president also said the US was considering providing security guarantees similar to Article 5 of NATO under bilateral agreements, but without deploying American troops on Ukrainian territory. Zelenskyy himself considers full NATO membership the most reliable security guarantee.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnshrining neutrality means changing your country’s Constitution, and Ukraine will not do that,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said that restrictions had been in place for the fifth consecutive day on the operating speed of Starshield satellite communication terminals in occupied Ukrainian territories, limiting them to 161 km\/h.<\/p>\n

SpaceX attributes the situation to technical reasons. However, Ukraine says the restrictions are widespread, preventing it from intercepting jet-powered Shahed drones near the front line before they enter territory controlled by Kyiv. The Defence Ministry, Foreign Ministry and commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are working to resolve the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarshield is restricted, with a maximum speed of 161 km\/h in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. If they have returned to the decision that there are no restrictions anywhere in Ukraine, but restrictions remain in the temporarily occupied territories, then that decision is very dangerous. If you impose restrictions there, you are effectively no longer recognizing some of the temporarily occupied territories as ours,\u201d<\/i> Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian leader also spoke about a new support package from Denmark worth \u20ac645 million. It includes 20 mm ammunition for F-16 fighter jets, around \u20ac200 million for drone production, funding for joint weapons manufacturing and energy assistance for Kherson region. In addition, an agreement has been reached to provide Ukraine with 800,000 rounds of ammunition for F-16s over six months.<\/p>\n

Discussions with Nordic countries covered further military support, the development of air defence and the FREYJA anti-ballistic programme. It was noted that the Danish radar, Ukrainian launcher and missile for the system were already ready.<\/p>\n

Ukraine is also testing alternative satellite communication systems in cooperation with France, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Germany is expected to join the effort.<\/p>\n

At next week’s meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in the Ramstein format, as well as at the Coalition of the Willing meeting in Berlin on November 19, Kyiv hopes to discuss deliveries of PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles, additional F-16s and energy assistance.<\/p>\n

Particular attention is being paid to preparations for possible power cuts in Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf electric public transport has to be reduced, we will need a specific amount of fuel and buses,\u201d<\/i> Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n

According to Zelenskyy, the Russian army lost 54,000 troops killed or seriously wounded in October, the highest monthly figure since the start of the full-scale war.<\/p>\n

The president also commented on a Russian proposal to conduct a humanitarian operation in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region. In his view, under the pretext of evacuating civilians, Russia is trying to force Ukrainian troops to withdraw from the city, which the Russian army has been unable to capture for a year and a half. This would allow Russian forces to advance towards Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.<\/p>\n

According to Ukraine, civilians in the city were evacuated as soon as the opportunity arose. Ukraine also handed the US a list of seven to eight blocked villages near Oleshky where civilians, including children, are genuinely present. Russia allegedly ignored the list.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Russian story about the \u2018peaceful population\u2019 in Kostiantynivka is Putin reflecting on the fact that he has failed to capture Kostiantynivka,\u201d<\/i> Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said preparations were under way for a large-scale prisoner exchange with Russia under a \u201cmore than 1,000 for more than 1,000\u201d formula, and that an agreement had been reached on the participation of European representatives in the next peace talks. The Ukrainian leader made the statements during a meeting with journalists, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":544381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/6af85bea133be.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Zelenskyy: US For The First Time Proposed That Ukraine Withdraw From Donbas In Exchange For NATO Membership"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143284,143090],"tags":[143121],"class_list":["post-603578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-world","category-politics","tag-rossijsko-ukrainskaja-vojna"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":603579,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603578\/revisions\/603579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}