Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky has suggested he would temporarily cede Ukrainian territory to Russia in exchange for joining Nato.
Mr Zelensky said Nato membership would have to be offered to unoccupied parts of the country to end the “hot phase” of the war and appeared to accept eastern parts of the country would fall outside this deal.
It comes after reports claimed one of US president-elect Donald Trump’s plans to end the war might be for Kyiv to cede the land Moscow has taken to Russia in exchange for Ukraine joining the alliance.
“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the Nato umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” Mr Zelensky told Sky News.
“We need to do it fast. And then on the occupied territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.”
He said Nato should “immediately” cover the part of Ukraine that remains under Kyiv’s control, something he said Ukraine needs “very much otherwise he [Putin] will come back”.
Mr Zelensky was asked what he thought of the Mr Trump and said “we have to work with the new president” in order to “have the biggest supporter”.
“I want to work with him directly because there are different voices from people around him. And that’s why we need not to allow anybody around to destroy our communication,” he said.
“It will be not helpful and will be destructive. We have to try to find the new model. I want to share with him ideas and I want to hear from him.”
Throughout the conflict, Mr Zelenskyy has never said he would cede any occupied Ukrainian territory to Russia – including Crimea, which Russia occupied in February 2014.
In September 2022, Russia unilaterally declared its annexation of areas in and around the Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia following referendums that were not internationally recognised.
Mr Zelensky’s long-held position is that the territory remains Ukrainian, that Russia’s occupation of the land is unlawful and that Kyiv will not cede any of its territory in order to strike a peace deal.
