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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for Nato to offer guaranteed protections to parts of Ukraine controlled by Kyiv in order to “stop the hot stage of the war”.
Zelenskyy also implied he would be willing to wait to regain the almost one-fifth of his country that Russia’s army has seized, if such a deal could offer security for the rest of Ukraine and end the fighting.
Russia has this week threatened to strike government buildings in Kyiv and launched a massive aerial attack on Ukraine’s energy sector – something it called a response to Ukraine firing US and British-supplied missiles on Russian territory.
“If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should take under Nato umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” Zelenskyy told Britain’s Sky News, according to a voiceover translation of his remarks from Ukrainian into English.
“That’s what we need to do fast, and then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country could cede land temporarily in exchange for protection of a "Nato umbrella". Photo / Getty Images
Russia controls around 18% of Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory, including the Crimean peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014.
Since invading in 2022, Moscow has claimed four more eastern and southern regions of Ukraine – Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia – as its own, despite not having full control over them.
Kyiv has repeatedly ruled out ceding territory in exchange for peace, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded Ukraine’s army withdraw from swathes of more land.
Seeking guarantees
Zelenskyy insisted any offer to join Nato must be given to the whole of Ukraine, but his comments about the “Nato umbrella” suggest he might accept the alliance’s practical protections, such as the Article Five collective defence clause, only be extended to territory controlled by Kyiv.
Such an arrangement would be necessary to ensure Russia does not attack again in the future, he said.
“If we speak ceasefire, [we need] guarantees that Putin will not come back,” Zelenskyy said in English.
Putin has previously called on Kyiv to renounce its Nato ambitions if it wants a peace deal.
With the conflict escalating on the battlefield, Zelenskyy has held a string of phone calls with Western leaders in recent days – including Britain’s Sir Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke to Ukraine’s foreign minister on Friday to brief him on “US goals for sustainable support for Ukraine”, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Zelenskyy on Friday appointed a new Land Forces Commander, Mykhailo Drapaty, in a move to bolster army leadership.
Drapaty previously led forces in the northeastern Kharkiv sector, defending against a surprise new Russian offensive earlier this year.
“These personnel decisions are aimed at strengthening our army, enhancing its combat readiness, and introducing new management approaches,” Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said.
