Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, looks back at the media in Downing Street, London, on December 8, 2025. KIN CHEUNG / AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, December 14, voiced readiness to drop his country's bid to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the US push for ceding territory to Russia as he held talks with US envoys on ending the war. Zelensky sat down with US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Ukrainian leader posted pictures of the negotiating table with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sitting next to him facing the US delegation.
Responding to journalists' questions in audio clips on a WhatsApp group chat before the talks, Zelensky said that since the US and some European nations had rejected Ukraine's push to join NATO, Kyiv expects the West to offer a set of guarantees similar to those offered to the alliance members.
"These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression," he said. "And this is already a compromise on our part."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has cast Ukraine's bid to join NATO as a major threat to Moscow's security and a reason for launching the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine renounce the bid for alliance membership as part of any prospective peace settlement.
