US proposes Ukraine cede Donbas for NATO membership, Zelenskyy says

US officials have for the first time proposed Ukraine cede the Donbas region in exchange for NATO membership, according to comments released Saturday from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy said Washington asked whether Ukraine would withdraw from Donbas if it joined NATO, while he warned that Russia's demand to reshape European security architecture risks escalating the war. He stressed he would consult Ukrainian society before deciding on any security guarantees from NATO and the EU. Russian negotiators reportedly demanded NATO forces and bases revert to 1997 deployments, ban bases in Baltic states, and require Finland leave the alliance, offering withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Belarus in return.