Zelenskiy Offers NATO Withdrawal, Seeks Binding Western Security Guarantees

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced he is willing to relinquish Ukraine’s long standing objective of NATO membership in exchange for legally binding security guarantees from the United States, European countries and other partners, as talks opened in Berlin on December 14. Zelenskiy framed the offer as a strategic compromise designed to prevent renewed Russian aggression while preserving Ukrainian sovereignty.

He specified that the guarantees should be codified in law and comparable to the protections NATO members enjoy, proposing arrangements described in reporting as bilateral guarantees with the United States, Article 5 like commitments offered by U.S. partners, and parallel assurances from European allies and like minded states including Canada and Japan. Zelenskiy emphasized that for U.S. promises to be credible they must receive backing by the U.S. Congress. He called the arrangement “an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression,” adding, “And this is already a compromise on our part.”

The remarks coincided with the opening session in Berlin where Zelenskiy met with U.S. envoys and European allies to explore pathways to durable peace and deterrence. He expected further information after a separate meeting between Ukrainian and U.S. military officials in Stuttgart, a procedural step officials said would inform the legal and operational contours of any guarantees. Audio clips of his comments circulated in a private messaging group prior to the diplomatic opening, signaling Kyiv’s intent to place a binding security architecture at the heart of negotiations.

Zelenskiy made clear that any settlement would not include territorial concessions to Russia, insisting Kyiv would not cede land as the price of security. That red line is likely to shape the bargaining space in Berlin and beyond, constraining options that some mediators have discussed to end hostilities. The president’s offer marks a notable policy pivot from long stated ambitions of joining NATO toward a bespoke security framework delivered through treaties or agreements with individual states.

Implementing Zelenskiy’s proposal would pose significant legal and political challenges. Legally binding bilateral guarantees require drafting that specifies obligations, triggers, and enforcement mechanisms, while domestic ratification processes in partner countries could prove contentious. In the United States a congressional vote would be necessary to underpin commitments Zelenskiy seeks, inserting American domestic politics into the architecture of Ukrainian security. European capitals would face their own parliamentary hurdles if they were asked to adopt Article 5 like undertakings outside the NATO treaty.

For Kyiv the proposal seeks a pragmatic route to immediate deterrence, trading the promise of future alliance membership for present day guarantees. For Western governments it raises questions about the durability and credibility of collective security offered outside NATO, and the diplomatic task of building legal instruments that can be delivered without obligating member states to full mutual defense. The Berlin talks mark the beginning of a broader diplomatic process to test whether such guarantees can be designed, approved and made credible while preserving Ukraine’s territorial integrity.