Zelensky ready to sign Ukraine and Russia peace deal with Putin on one condition

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A ceasefire has been suggested by Volodymyr Zelensky in which Ukraine would lose territory to Russia in return for NATO membership.

US president-elect Donald Trump repeatedly said he would be able to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours during his election campaign and there has been plenty of conjecture over how and whether this would be possible. It has been reported from Trump staffers that his plan is to freeze the current front line in place and introduce an 800 mile buffer zone between the two countries.

An agreement that Ukraine would not join NATO for another 20 years is another element to the alleged proposal. It has been said that this would save face for Vladimir Putin, not least as it would more or less guarantee that Ukraine doesn’t join NATO in his lifetime, reports the Mirror.

Up until now Zelensky has said that Ukraine would not accept a deal which would see it ceding terrain to Russia, but now he appears to be considering the possibility of a ceasefire where the rest of the country comes “under the NATO umbrella”. He said NATO membership would need to be offered for the part of Ukraine which is not occupied by Russia.

"If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control," he told Sky News. "We need to do it fast. And then on the [occupied] territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way."

Adding that NATO membership was “very much” needed to stop Putin coming back for more, the Ukraine leader wanted to see a guarantee that if there was a ceasefire, Putin would not later come back and fight for more territory.

Zelensky said he was ready to work with Trump amid fears that Trump would be looking for a quick fix with his priority being domestic issues in the US and cutting spending on Ukraine. “We have to try to find the new model. I want to share with him ideas and I want to hear from him," he said.

After Joe Biden authorised Ukraine to use American-supplied long-range missiles to attack targets inside Russia, tensions have significantly escalated in recent weeks. Storm Shadow missiles supplied to Ukraine by Britain were also reportedly fired into Russia last week.

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