US Reportedly Plans to ‘Offer’ Ukraine EU Membership for Dropping NATO Bid

A US peace proposal would ‘offer’ Ukraine European Union membership and an investment package in exchange for abandoning its bid to join NATO, The Economist reported on Thursday, Oct. 22.

The reported outline also includes a demilitarized zone in Donbas, the eastern Ukrainian region comprising Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia could receive commercial agreements with American companies, sanctions relief and restored political ties with Washington. The package also envisages resuming Russian gas supplies to Europe, including reviving Nord Stream, according to the report.

Ukrainian officials are familiar with the general framework but have not received full details of the latest US proposals, The Economist reported. Neither Kyiv nor Washington has announced that Ukraine has accepted the terms.

One Ukrainian official told the magazine that Kyiv fears US representatives could pursue lucrative deals with Moscow before the war ends, allowing Russia to gain economic and diplomatic benefits while fighting continues.

Kyiv seeks enforceable security guarantees

The reported outline follows talks in Oslo on Oct. 20 between President Volodymyr Zelensky, US envoy Steve Witkoff and European leaders. The discussions covered Ukraine’s security, territorial questions, sanctions and postwar economic prospects.

US officials described work on two tracks: Ukraine’s sovereignty, security guarantees, European integration and reconstruction; and a separate framework addressing Russia and future security arrangements.

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Witkoff subsequently met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Oct. 21.

After that meeting, Zelensky said Washington had relayed that Moscow was open to resuming trilateral negotiations with Ukraine and the US. He said the teams could meet by early November, although no date had been set.

The Kremlin then indicated that Putin was ready in principle to resume talks around mid-November.

Kyiv is pressing for security commitments it considers enforceable. Zelensky has said Ukraine is negotiating US guarantees modeled on NATO’s Article 5 and backed by a vote in Congress.

He described NATO membership, bilateral US guarantees and a European-led Coalition of the Willing as complementary parts of Ukraine’s security framework. No final agreement on those guarantees has been announced.

Washington cannot grant EU membership

The reported offer does not establish an agreed accession date or mean Ukraine would automatically join the EU.

Under the EU’s accession rules, membership requires negotiations, the European Parliament’s consent, unanimous approval by the Council and ratification of an accession treaty by all member states and the candidate country.

A previous US-backed peace framework reportedly proposed that Ukraine could join the EU as soon as January 2027. Kyiv Post reported in December 2025 that the proposal would involve territorial concessions and require Brussels to consider changes to its enlargement process. That was a proposed timetable, not an agreed accession date.

Renewed Russian energy supplies would also require European decisions. The EU adopted a legally binding phaseout of Russian gas imports in January, with remaining long-term LNG supplies due to end from January 2027 and pipeline supplies from autumn 2027.

As Kyiv Post previously reported, Germany’s government opposes reopening Nord Stream, which also faces US and EU sanctions.

The reported package therefore includes benefits Washington cannot deliver alone. Ukraine’s accession and any lasting return of Russian gas to the EU market would require agreement in Europe, alongside a settlement accepted by Kyiv and Moscow.