Zelenskyy offers to drop NATO bid for security guarantees but rejects US push to cede territory

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By STEFANIE DAZIO and CLAUDIA CIOBANU
Updated 9:12 AM CST, December 14, 2025
Leer en español

BERLIN (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia as he arrived in Berlin for talks with U.S. envoys on ending the war.

Zelenskyy arrived at the Chancellery ahead of the expected talks with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, part of a series of meetings in Berlin between Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials.

Responding to journalists’ questions in audio clips on a WhatsApp group chat before the talks, Zelenskyy said that since the U.S. and some European nations had rejected Ukraine’s push to join NATO, Kyiv expects the West to offer a set of guarantees similar to those offered to the alliance members.

“These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression,” he said. “And this is already a compromise on our part.”



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-berlin-talks-zelenskyy-05c363add7a4a3583f3beada7b1fb775

[surfered]

1. Hope those guarantees are better than the ones Ukraine got in exchange for giving up its nuclear weapons in the 90s

[Bayard]

4. If they had kept those promises,

Ukraine would have been safe from Russia. Who is going to guarantee these guarantees?

[Evolve Dammit]

6. If they still had them, this never would have happened. So maddening and sad for all the lost lives.

[ChicagoTeamster]

2. If Trump wants the US to disengage from Europe, why would he even have any demands for Zelenskyy?

[EarthFirst]

3. The recently published 33-page National Security Strategy document...

…should be more than enough for Zelenskyy and European leaders to restrict any and all negotiations with the United States regarding the sovereignty of Ukraine.

In other words: GFYS

[mdbl]

5. This would be another Putin win.

The US Govt has F'ing screwed Ukraine at every turn. It just sucks.

[Evolve Dammit]

7. Not allowing Ukraine to use offensive weapons, was ...offensive. How dare we? And look at the toll. No nukes

since Ukraine gave them up, provided the opportunity for Putin preying on a weaker enemy. This comes down to one "person" wanting to be Peter the Great. He's sicker (or as sick) than Drumpf. There's a TV show: "Which one is sicker??." Tonights contestants are.....

[Emrys]

8. Doesn't Witkoff own a suit? He looks like he's setting off on a camping weekend.

Or does he only wear one abroad when he's trying to impress, like when he's hobnobbing with his pal Putin.

[cstanleytech]

9. Problem is this was never actually about Ukraine joining NATO but about the future revenue from oil and gas pipelines.

Russia is trying to seize territory in order to avoid paying fees to Ukraine as well as Moldova because they want to run pipelines through those areas.