The Kremlin has described Ukraine’s push to join NATO as one of the “root causes” of the conflict. U.S. President Donald Trump has ruled out Ukrainian membership in the Western defensive alliance. Zelensky is searching for compromises that could secure a peace deal to end Russia’s ongoing invasion.

Ukraine’s entry into NATO remains highly unlikely in the near term due to substantial political, military, and legal bar

Russia has drawn firm red lines on Ukraine peace talks following high-level negotiations in Berlin, rejecting any compromise on occupied Ukrainian territories and ruling out the presence of European or NATO troops on Ukrainian soil.

Kyiv has now expressed readiness to drop its bid to join the NATO military alliance if the U.S. and other Western nations give it similar security guarantees.

President Donald Trump on Monday described an end to the war in Ukraine as closer than ever, with American officials earlier in the day suggesting beefed-up security guarantees for Kyiv had advanced the peace talks — but that the US offer would not be on the table forever.

Ukraine claimed it carried out an underwater drone strike on Dec. 15, the first such attack in maritime warfare, that critically damaged a Russian Kilo-class attack submarine at the Russian port of Novorossiysk,

Kremlin spokesman says Washington not actively informing Moscow of progress in Berlin talks but expects to hear from US after conclusion of talks - Anadolu Ajansı

But Ukraine’s leader griped that overall, the negotiations aimed at ending Kremlin’s deadly aggression aren’t about giving his people a “fair” deal.