President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is willing to forgo NATO membership in exchange for legally binding security guarantees from the US, Europe and allies.
The move marks a major shift in Kyiv’s long-held position, even as it refuses to cede territory to Russia.
The statement comes ahead of high-level talks in Berlin, where Ukraine, the US and European partners are discussing a possible ceasefire framework.
Before meetings with U.S. envoys in Berlin, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine had agreed to stop the war with Russia by giving up its desire to join the NATO military alliance in exchange for Western security guarantees.
The action represents a significant change for Ukraine, which has pushed to become a member of NATO to protect itself from Russian aggression and has such a goal enshrined in its constitution. Although Kyiv has been steadfast in its refusal to give up land to Moscow, it also fulfils one of Russia's war objectives.
Zelenskyy said on Sunday that the U.S., European and other partners' security guarantees instead of NATO membership were a compromise on Ukraine's side.
"From the very beginning, Ukraine desired to join NATO; these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the US and Europe did not support this direction," he said in answer to questions from reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
"Thus, today, bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the US, Article 5-like guarantees for us from the US, and security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries — Canada, Japan — are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion," Zelenskyy said.
"And it is already a compromise from our part," he said, adding that the security guarantees should be legally binding.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine formally renounce its aspirations to join NATO and remove its forces from about 10 per cent of Donbas that Kyiv still holds. Additionally, Moscow has declared that NATO forces cannot be stationed in Ukraine and that Ukraine must remain a neutral nation.
According to Russian sources earlier this year, Putin wants major Western nations to make a "written" commitment not to expand NATO, which is led by the United States, eastward. This is short for officially excluding Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and other former Soviet republics from membership.
As he prepared to meet with U.S. envoys and European allies in Berlin to put an end to Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two, Zelenskyy had earlier asked for a "dignified" peace and promises that Russia would not invade Ukraine again.
Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to sign a peace deal that initially backed Moscow's demands, Zelenskyy accused Russia of dragging out the war through deadly bombings of cities and Ukraine's power and water supplies.
Although the exact make-up of the meetings on Sunday and Monday has not been made public, a U.S. official said Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were travelling to Germany for talks involving Ukrainians and Europeans.
The choice to send Witkoff, who has led negotiations with Ukraine and Russia on a U.S. peace proposal, appeared to be a signal that Washington saw a chance of progress nearly four years after Russia's 2022 invasion.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine, the Europeans and the U.S. are looking at a 20-point plan and that at the end of this, there is a ceasefire. He said Kyiv has no direct talks with Russia.
