Zelensky: the Americans Want Donbas in Exchange for Something "Similar to NATO" - Today in Abu Dhabi, the First Talks in Eight Months

A new round of talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine begins in Abu Dhabi today - the first after a pause of more than eight months. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky chose precisely the morning before the meeting to reveal what the Americans are offering him behind closed doors: Donbas for Russia, in exchange for security guarantees that aren't NATO, but "something similar to NATO".

Zelensky posted on X part of a recent interview with Danish television. When asked "Can you trade Donbas for security?", he says he immediately asked back: "What exactly does that mean? What kind of security? NATO?". The answer was - not NATO, but something similar. "Similar? But for Donbas you're not asking for a similar answer. You want a clear answer. That's your goal, and today it's also Putin's goal," he said.

Zelensky's argument is historical. "Putin talked about Donbas, and then he went for Kyiv. He claimed he was defending Russian speakers, and then he tortured them to death in Bucha," he wrote. He recalled that Ukraine once gave up its nuclear weapons and was attacked anyway. "Nobody believes Putin will stop if we leave him Donbas. He'll take a pause and come back in one, two or five years. And who will be to blame then?"

The Americans are represented by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The Ukrainian delegation is led by Rustem Umerov, and the Russian one by Putin's aide Vladimir Medinsky. Unnamed US officials claimed before the meeting that both Moscow and Kyiv were showing signs of giving ground on an exchange of territory. With one post, Zelensky showed them he doesn't buy their story.

The Balkans know very well what guarantees on paper are worth. In 1995 Srebrenica was a United Nations "safe area". That's why Zelensky's question isn't rhetorical: if the "something similar to NATO" doesn't work, who will answer for it - and to whom?