Last week, Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested a ceasefire deal could be struck if Ukrainian territory he controls could be taken “under the NATO umbrella” – allowing him to negotiate the return of the rest later “in a diplomatic way”.
Mr Zelenskyy, in an exclusive interview with Sky’s Stuart Ramsay, said NATO membership would have to be offered to unoccupied parts of the country in order to end the “hot phase of the war”, as long as the NATO invitation itself recognises Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders.
He appeared to accept occupied eastern parts of the country would fall outside of such a deal for the time being.
Since then, experts have been weighing in on whether such a proposal could work.
Analyst and ex-defence British minister Tobias Ellwood said that while it may sound unique, this sort of plan is not unprecedented.
“We went through this in the Second World War as well with East Germany, for example,” he told Sky News, referring to the division of Germany in 1945.
Ellwood said it was recognised then that “one day it must be returned back to Germany [to make it] whole”.
This case is slightly more complicated however, as Russia will insist on certain territories being non-negotiable.
“Crimea is not even on the table to be discussed at the moment.”
But would NATO even sanction such a step?
“Article five suggests that your borders must be sound,” Ellwood said, noting that the NATO charter does not allow states to join if they are at war.
“The parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.”
NATO charter article five
“But if they want to allow Ukraine to join, they could make it happen. They could easily provide the guarantees,” he added.
Yesterday, our defence and security analyst Michael Clarke talked us through one such way of doing so – namely a “ceasefire line” – which you can read about here.