Zelensky says NATO membership could end ‘warm phase’

President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed that the parts of Ukraine under his control should be brought “under the Nato umbrella” to try to stop the “warm phase” of the war.

He was asked by Sky News if he would accept Nato membership, but only on the territory currently held by Kyiv.

Zelensky said he would, but only if Nato membership was offered to all of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders first.

Ukraine could then try to negotiate the return of territory currently under Russian control “in a diplomatic way,” he said in a wide-ranging interview.

But the proposal is very theoretical. Zelensky isn’t making new proposals — this was a TV interview, not a diplomatic forum — but he’s sending signals.

Whether Nato would ever consider such a move is highly doubtful.

“Ukraine has never considered such a proposal, because no one has officially offered it to us,” Zelensky said.

Nato would have to offer membership to the entire country, including the parts currently under Russian control, he said.

“You cannot give (an) invitation to just one part of a country,” the president said, according to a translation provided by Sky News. “Why? Because you would thus recognize that Ukraine is only the territory of Ukraine, and the other is Russia.”

Lots of people suggested cease-fires, he said, but without a mechanism to prevent Russia from attacking again, cease-fires were simply too dangerous.

Only NATO membership, he said, could offer that kind of guarantee.

The Ukrainian president has already said he believes the war could end in the coming year if Ukraine’s allies show enough determination.

Reports suggest that discussion of the so-called West German model – Nato membership offered to a divided country – has been going on in Western circles for more than a year.

But no formal proposals have yet been made.

Meanwhile, Zelensky has been keen to sound willing to engage with whatever proposals US President-elect Donald Trump might consider.

“I want to share ideas with him and I want to hear from him, his ideas,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian leader said he would send a team in the coming days to meet with Trump officials, including the president-elect’s recently appointed special envoy for Ukraine, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg.

In April, Gen Kellogg co-authored a plan, called America First: Russia & Ukraine, which would freeze the front lines in Ukraine and pressure both Kiev and Moscow to come to the negotiating table.

Future US military assistance to Ukraine will be contingent on Kyiv’s willingness to enter into peace talks.

But in the event of a ceasefire, Washington will continue to provide military assistance and “strengthen (Ukraine’s) defenses to ensure that Russia will not make further advances and will not attack again after a ceasefire or peace agreement.”

According to the proposals, NATO membership for Ukraine will be postponed for a longer period.

For Zelensky, this raises a crucial question: what security guarantees would the Trump administration be willing to offer?

“Without NATO, it is not real independence for Ukraine because he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) will come back,” Zelensky insisted.

The differences between Zelensky’s peace plan and the incipient Trump policy are still significant.

But by engaging with the idea of ​​a ceasefire and painful territorial sacrifices (in the short term at least), the Ukrainian leader is doing his utmost to sound constructive, aware that so far there are no corresponding signs coming from Moscow.

Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Eight years later, it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has seized territory in the country’s east.

But it is also worth noting that so far Putin has given absolutely no indication that he has given up his desire to completely subjugate Ukraine.

The idea that he would be willing to allow any part of Ukraine to join Nato is unthinkable at this point.

All indications so far suggest that any involvement of NATO is a complete non-starter.

Additional reporting by Sofia Ferreira Santos.