Kushner urges confidentiality after Zelensky says US floated NATO entry for Donbas

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says US negotiators asked, for the first time, whether Ukraine would withdraw its forces from the eastern Donbas region if it were admitted to NATO. Hours after his remarks were released on Saturday, 14 November, US special envoy Jared Kushner called for sensitive talks to stay confidential and said both sides privately accept that compromises will be needed.

What Zelensky said

"The Americans raised a question: 'What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?' This was the first time this had been raised," Zelensky told reporters, according to POLITICO and the BBC. POLITICO reported that he spoke on Friday, 13 November, a day after meeting US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Dublin, and the BBC said his office released the remarks on Saturday.

"That is why I believe NATO is back on the agenda. But you have also heard [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's signals, and this is an extremely difficult conversation," Zelensky said, according to Reuters as published by ABC News.

He repeated that Kyiv would not give up territory. "I have said repeatedly: Ukraine is not retreating and is not giving up its land to terrorists," he said, POLITICO reported.

A referendum, but only on a full package

Zelensky said Ukraine was discussing a "comprehensive security package" with partners, POLITICO reported. According to his account, it would include specific guarantees from NATO and the European Union, a strong Ukrainian army with enough troops, weapons and funding for a set period, and a recovery plan with clear funding.

"If the American side confirms precisely this to us, together with other NATO partners, then I will ask our Ukrainian society what it thinks: do we accept it or not? I have no right to make that decision on my own," he said, according to POLITICO. He added that any such deal would come "without any recognition of the occupied territories as Russian" and that "we need specifics, and we don't have them yet."

Washington's response

The United States has not confirmed Zelensky's account. A US official told the BBC that "many ideas continue to be discussed but any final deal will have to be agreed to by both parties." POLITICO said the White House and State Department did not immediately respond to its request for comment.

In a post on X, Kushner said he and Witkoff had stayed in contact with Russian, Ukrainian and European representatives and were preparing the next round of trilateral talks, with the aim of bringing European partners directly into the process, Hindustan Times reported. He did not give details of the ideas under discussion.

Kushner said public reports had highlighted maximalist demands and strong political rhetoric. "In our private discussions, both sides understand that practical compromises will be necessary to end this war," he wrote, according to Hindustan Times. He said the US team would keep working toward a settlement while keeping sensitive negotiations confidential, Hindustan Times reported. The BBC said Kushner referred to "private discussions" aimed at exploring new ideas to end what he called a "horrible war".

Where Moscow stands

The BBC reported that comments by Putin and Kremlin officials suggest Russia's position has not shifted. Moscow has previously proposed limits on the size of Ukraine's military, territorial concessions and guaranteed neutrality for Kyiv as conditions for a deal, and Russia has said another NATO member on its border is unacceptable, according to the BBC. The BBC said Russia currently occupies roughly a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including most of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas.

According to the BBC, other NATO members apart from the US are wary of Ukrainian membership.

Talks and a prisoner exchange

The remarks follow two days of US-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi that ended on Wednesday without a major breakthrough, Reuters reported via ABC News. Zelensky said the sides had agreed to a prisoner exchange involving more than 1,000 people, with final numbers still being discussed.

Zelensky said the US envoys told him all sides had agreed that Europe would have a seat at the table in upcoming talks, according to the same report. At a summit in Ireland, EU leaders agreed that Europe's negotiating team would comprise Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland, as well as EU officials, ABC News reported.

Zelensky also rejected Russia's call to agree a broad European security framework before settling how to end the war. "This war must be ended first," he said, according to ABC News.

What comes next

The White House and the Kremlin have said Putin, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping plan to meet on Thursday, 19 November, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, the Associated Press (AP) reported. No date has been announced for the next round of trilateral talks on Ukraine.