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The United States will grant Ukraine security guarantees if it cedes its entire eastern Donbas region to Russia. Zelensky has demanded security guarantees to end his war, but has also repeatedly refused to cede any territory to Russia as well.
“The Americans are prepared to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas,” Zelensky said Wednesday.
The two main questions Zelensky has about the guarantees are who would fund Ukraine’s weapons purchases (used for a military deterrent) and how would its allies respond to a theoretical future act of Russian “aggression.”
A plan to give up land to gain security appears to have been in the works since at least January and likely earlier.
On January 27 the Financial Times reported that unnamed sources told them the U.S. set a condition for Ukraine to receive security guarantees from Washington – cede territory to Russia in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
“The Trump administration has indicated to Ukraine that U.S. security guarantees are contingent on Kyiv first agreeing a peace deal that would likely involve ceding the Donbas region to Russia, according to eight people familiar with talks,” the Financial Times said. “Washington has also suggested it would promise Ukraine more weaponry to bolster its peacetime army if — as the price of peace with Russia — it agreed to withdraw its forces from the parts of the eastern region it controls, two of the people said.”
On February 11 Zelensky announced that no elections will be held until security guarantees are acquired, despite Europe largely agreeing to guarantee Ukraine’s security already. Zelensky, whose term expired in May 2024, is holding onto power under martial law regulations which grant him permanent rule throughout the duration of the conflict. He ruled out holding elections on numerous different occasions previously.
On February 28 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he is prepared to accept Ukraine attaining security guarantees.
“On security guarantees, the Russian side said directly they would accept the guarantees the United States is proposing to Ukraine—they have no alternative,” he said.
This marks a change from September when the Kremlin was against such a plan. Now their tune has changed.
“We hope that these first, cautious steps will contribute to the continued revival of our bilateral relations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, also mentioning that Putin had determined the “most important targets” for the visit and would remain “extensively informed.”
