Ukraine should consider letting Russia ‘temporarily’ keep some of the land it has captured in order to strike a ceasefire agreement as soon as possible, former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday, December 2nd, in an interview with Table Briefings.
Reaching a ceasefire that could pave the way for eventual peace should be a priority, Stoltenberg explained, adding that it is not “realistic” to expect Russian withdrawal from the occupied Eastern Ukrainian territories.
Stoltenberg’s words contrast with those of current NATO chief Mark Rutte, who has so far remained cautious about mentioning territorial concessions. Rutte recently told President Trump to reconsider any peace plan that’s “not good” for Ukraine, because it would embolden Russia and its allies (China, Iran, and North Korea), which would in turn constitute a “dire threat” to global security.
However, Stoltenberg said, “We need a ceasefire line, and, of course, this line should ideally include all the territories that Russia controls by now. However, we see that this is not entirely realistic in the near future.”
At the same time, Stoltenberg stressed that such an agreement would not mean surrendering the occupied territories forever and that the purpose of these concessions must be to ensure that Ukraine receives the much-needed security guarantees to protect its remaining territory.
“If the ceasefire line means that Russia continues to control all occupied territories, this does not mean that Ukraine has to give up the territory forever,” he said.
The security guarantees Kyiv might get in exchange could include NATO membership, but there are also “other ways to arm and support Ukraine,” Stoltenberg added.
The remark was meant as a response to President Zelensky’s earlier statement from a few days ago when, for the first time, he indicated readiness to temporarily cede the occupied territories in exchange for the Ukrainian-controlled parts of the country being placed under the “NATO umbrella.”
Later, on December 2nd, the Ukrainian president clarified that Kyiv would never accept a NATO invitation that covers only parts of the country. However, he still maintained support for an intermediary measure that might extend NATO protection to the unoccupied parts of the country while the war is still ongoing, arguing that the alliance’s Article 5 would not be triggered if does not extend over the ceasefire line.
In practice, Zelensky said Ukraine’s partial NATO accession—under which the entire country would be de iure part of the alliance but the mutual defense clause of Article 5—would only apply to the occupied territories once they’ve been retaken by Kyiv, “ideally through diplomatic means.”
However, as Stoltenberg diplomatically implied, such an unprecedented agreement might be too risky and difficult to achieve. Hence the “other ways” of getting security guarantees that he suggested, which would primarily involve further military aid and defense investments from the West to deter Russia from breaking the ceasefire and invading again.
