Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would be willing to enter a cease-fire agreement with Russia if the unoccupied parts of his nation receive NATO protection.
“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,” Zelenskyy said.
“We need to do it fast. And then on the [occupied] territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.”
The comments are the first time that Zelenskyy has expressed an openness to a cease-fire arrangement in which Ukraine does not control all of its territory.
U.S. President Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine the limited use of some anti-personnel mines and reportedly the authority to use U.S.-supplied tactical ballistic missiles against military targets in Russian territory, but such measures appear to have had little effect on the battlefield thus far.
Despite these developments, it is unlikely that Zelenskyy’s suggestion would be accepted by either Moscow or NATO.
Even if Putin should express a willingness to soften that position, there would be other hurdles for Ukraine.
The first is that admission to the alliance requires the unanimous consent of all members. That would be a tall order given that some NATO members, such as Hungary and Turkey, have previously expressed an unwillingness to accept Ukraine’s bid for membership, given Russia’s concerns.
The second hurdle is that it is not currently clear whether Ukraine meets the standards of transparency and anti-corruption measures expected of NATO members.
Finally, it is unclear whether NATO would accept Ukraine into the fold so long as Kyiv lays claims to the territories occupied by Russia, as this could put the alliance at an increased risk of being drawn into a war through its mutual defense obligations.
Kellogg previously outlined a plan for ending the war that would seek to freeze the front lines and push for a negotiation between Kyiv and Moscow.
Zelenskyy said he hoped to work with Trump directly to bring an end to the fighting.
“I want to work with [Trump] 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.
“I want to share with him ideas, and I want to hear from him.”