Ukraine abandons ambitions to join NATO as latest peace talks get underway
Mr Zelenskyy will reportedly seek Western security guarantees as a compromise to joining the military alliance
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has abandoned ambitions for Ukraine to join NATO as he seeks a path to peace with Russia.
Listen to this article
Mr Zelenskyy will reportedly seek Western security guarantees as a compromise to joining the military alliance, although any guarantees would need to be "legally binding".
The move comes as the leader meets with US delegates, headed up by special envoy Steve Witkoff, in Berlin to discuss proposals to end the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Ukraine has sought NATO membership as a deterrent to Russian invasion, even going so far as to include the aspiration in its constitution.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine renounce its hopes to join NATO and has called for it to be a neutral country with no troops from the alliance present in it.
Read more: Russia hits back with legal action amid European plan to loan $90bn in frozen cash to Ukraine
Read more: Zelenskyy proposes referendum on land concessions as Ukraine hands US updated peace plan
"From the very beginning, Ukraine's desire was to join NATO, these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the US and Europe did not support this direction," Mr Zelensky told reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
"Thus, today, bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the US, Article 5-like guarantees for us from the US, and security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries — Canada, Japan — are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion.
"And it is already a compromise from our part."
Mr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian, US and European officials would hold a series of meetings in Berlin in the coming days.
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for a swift end to Russia's war but has grown increasingly exasperated by delays and disagreements.
Territorial exchange remains the greatest obstacle to any peace deal. The focus remains on Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.
However, security guarantees for Ukraine also remain a key issue.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to support Ukraine alongside French president Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, said on Saturday that "the decades of the 'Pax Americana' are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well".
He warned that Mr Putin's aim was "a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders".
"If Ukraine falls, he won't stop," Mr Merz warned on Saturday during a party conference in Munich.