Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested that a ceasefire agreement could be reached if Ukrainian territories were brought “under the NATO umbrella.”

This, he said, would allow him to negotiate the return of the remaining territories later “in a diplomatic way.”

In an interview with Sky News and Stuart Ramsey, the Ukrainian president was asked to respond to media reports that one of US President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to end the war could be for Kiev to cede territory taken by Moscow to Russia in exchange for Ukraine’s membership of NATO.

Zelensky responded that NATO membership should be offered to the free parts of the country in order to end the “hot phase of the war”, as long as NATO’s invitation recognizes Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders.

He even appeared, as Sky News comments, to accept that the Russian-occupied eastern parts of the country would remain outside such an agreement for the time being.