KIEV/MOSCOW, Dec. 2, (Xinhua/GNA) — In a significant shift of stance on a potential ceasefire after 33 months of conflict, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, indicated for the first time that Kiev could accept Russian control over some of its territories, in exchange for its membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Ukraine’s new posture is widely seen as a response to Donald Trump’s victory, in the latest U.S. presidential election, while its aspiration to join NATO has further dimmed as the differences between Zelensky’s peace plan and Trump’s policy remain substantial.
In an interview with Sky News, Zelensky responded to a question about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion, that Ukraine cede Russian-occupied land to join NATO, saying, Ukraine must bring unoccupied territories under NATO protection first, and pursue the return of occupied lands diplomatically. “If we want to stop the intense phase of the war, we need to bring the unoccupied territories of Ukraine under the NATO umbrella,” Zelensky said. “We need to act as soon as possible, and then we can diplomatically get the occupied lands back.”
According to the text of a letter seen by Reuters on Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, has also urged his NATO counterparts to send an invitation to Kiev, at a meeting in Brussels next week to join the Western military alliance. “The invitation should not be seen as an escalation,” Sybiha wrote in the letter.
“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.” Ukraine says it accepts that it cannot join the alliance until the war is over, but extending an invitation now would show Russian President Vladimir Putin, that he could not achieve one of his main goals, preventing Kiev from becoming a NATO member, said a Reuters report.
GNA