Giving up Donbas will not end Putin‘s war against Ukraine, but only give him time to prepare for another invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned, predicting that Russian forces could return in a year, two years or even five.Rejecting the idea of trading territory for peace, Zelenskyy said no security arrangement could be trusted unless it offered Ukraine clear and enforceable guarantees against future Russian aggression.In an interview with Danish broadcaster DR Nyheder, Zelenskyy questioned the logic of surrendering the remaining Ukrainian-controlled parts of Donbas in exchange for security guarantees, arguing that Russia’s past actions had repeatedly contradicted its stated objectives.He cited Moscow’s attempt to capture Kyiv during the 2022 invasion despite initially claiming that its military operation was focused on Donbas and protecting Russian-speaking populations.“Ceding Ukrainian land for peace is just abstract words. It’s not only about reality, even more about philosophy,” Zelenskyy said, arguing that Russia’s actions since the beginning of the full-scale invasion had shown why Kyiv could not take Putin’s stated objectives at face value.“He kept saying he was defending Russian-speaking people and then tortured hundreds and thousands to death in Bucha and other places. So that wasn’t about Russian-speaking people,” he said, questioning whether surrendering Donbas would satisfy Putin’s demands or merely encourage further territorial ambitions.“Zelenskyy warned that surrendering Donbas would not guarantee an end to Russian aggression, arguing that Putin could use the concession as a temporary pause before returning to attack Ukraine.”“Nobody trusts Putin to stop if we leave Donbas. He will pause. Then he will come back in one year, two years, or five years. And who will be guilty?” he said, arguing that territorial concessions without credible security guarantees could leave Ukraine exposed to another Russian offensive.Zelenskyy questions US offer of Nato-like security guaranteesZelenskyy also revealed details of a conversation with American representatives who asked whether Ukraine would consider exchanging Donbas for security guarantees. He said he sought clarity on what those guarantees would involve and whether they would include Ukraine’s membership in Nato.“This is why when Americans asked, ‘Can you exchange Donbas for security?’ I said right there, ‘Can you tell me what it means? What security? Nato?'” Zelenskyy recalled.According to Zelenskyy, the American representatives responded that the proposal would not involve Nato membership but would offer something similar to the alliance’s security arrangements.“Similar? But you don’t want the answer about Donbas to be ‘similar.’ You want a clear answer about Donbas. This is your goal. And this is Putin’s goal, for today,” he said.Zelenskyy also questioned what would happen if Ukraine accepted security guarantees without becoming a Nato member, highlighting Kyiv’s concerns over whether such an arrangement would be sufficient to deter another Russian attack.Zelenskyy also invoked Ukraine’s decision to give up its nuclear weapons following the collapse of the Soviet Union, questioning the reliability of international security assurances that failed to prevent Russian aggression.Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine inherited a massive nuclear arsenal, including thousands of nuclear warheads, intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers stationed on its territory. It became the world’s third-largest nuclear power by the number of nuclear warheads it inherited.Ukraine agreed to relinquish its nuclear arsenal under an international disarmament arrangement formalised through the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, signed by Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom.Under the agreement, the three other signatories pledged to respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and existing borders and refrain from the threat or use of force against it. Ukraine joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear-weapon state and completed the transfer of its nuclear warheads to Russia in 1996.Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its full-scale invasion in February 2022 exposed the limitations of those assurances, with Moscow violating its commitments to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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