Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled that he is willing to cede territory to Russia in exchange for protection from NATO.
“If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should take under [the] NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” Zelensky said through a translator in an interview with Sky News. “That’s what we need to do fast, and then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically.”
“This proposal has never been considered by Ukraine because no one has ever offered that to us officially,” he said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged NATO leaders to extend a membership invitation to Ukraine.
Sybiha letter to NATO, obtained by Reuters, reads, “The invitation should not be seen as an escalation. On the contrary, with a clear understanding that Ukraine’s membership in NATO is inevitable, Russia will lose one of its main arguments for continuing this unjustified war.”
“I urge you to endorse the decision to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance as one of the outcomes of the NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting on 3-4 December 2024.”
