Zelensky suggests NATO membership could halt 'hot phase’ of war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested this week that NATO welcoming Ukraine into the alliance could halt the “hot stage” of the war, while Russia would temporarily keep the territory it overtook.

"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," Zelensky said in an interview Friday with SkyNews.

"We need to do it fast. And then on the [occupied] territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way,” he added.

Back in early July during a summit in Washington, NATO said Ukraine was on an “irreversible” path to join the military alliance.

“You can’t give an invitation to just one part of a country,” Zelensky said in the interview. “Why? Because thus you would recognize that Ukraine is only that territory of Ukraine and the other one is Russia.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said this week that Ukraine is not in a strong position to start negotiating the end of the war that has been raging in Eastern Europe for nearly three years. In order to be entered into the organization, however, Ukraine would need a green light from all 32 members.

Zelensky said in the recent interview that a truce was necessary to "guarantee that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will not come back.”

The Ukrainian leader noted that he will also need to work with President-elect Trump to ensure that Kyiv continues to have its biggest backer: the U.S. Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail that he would end the conflict once he is back in the White House.

"I want to work with him directly because there are different voices from people around him. And that's why we need not to [allow] anybody around to destroy our communication," he told SkyNews.

Zelensky and Trump met in September to discuss plans that could bring an end to the war. The two also spoke after the president-elect won the 2024 election.

“We’re going to work very much with both parties to try and get this settled,” the president-elect told reporters after the meeting earlier this year. "We have a very good relationship, and I also have a very good relationship — as you know — with President Putin. And I think if we win, I think we’re going to get it resolved very quickly."

Earlier this week, Trump tapped retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg to be his special envoy to the Russia-Ukraine war when he returns to the White House in January. Kellogg, who recently issued a detailed proposal to end the conflict, said in the past that more aid to Ukraine should depend on Kyiv’s willingness to be part of peace talks.

“Bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties,” Kellogg wrote in a research report for the America First Policy Institute (AMFI).

Ukraine has already started asking NATO members to give the war-torn country an invitation to join the alliance, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has asked the member nations to issue the invitation at the foreign minister’s upcoming meeting in Brussels, set to begin on Dec. 3, according to a letter reviewed by the international news wire.

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