Ukraine cannot partially join NATO — Zelensky

Ukraine will never accept a partial invitation to NATO. Such a statement was made by Vladimir Zelensky at a press conference in Kiev after talks with EU officials, TASS reports.

"Part of the territories of Ukraine cannot be invited to NATO. This is an automatic recognition that... all other territories are not Ukrainian. Therefore, Ukraine will never go for it. If an invitation, then only for all territories," he said.

Earlier, he allowed the "hot phase" of the conflict to stop if the territories controlled by Kiev were taken "under the umbrella" of the alliance. However, he later stated about the speculation in The media on this topic.

At the same time, Zelensky admitted that there had not been any proposals from NATO members.

"Frankly speaking, there are a lot of insinuations and speculations in the press and in the media. To be honest, about what this "umbrella" can be. So we have not received any of the types of these "umbrellas", any formats from our partners. So what can we say about it," he concluded.

On November 29, Zelensky, in an interview with Sky News, allowed the "hot phase" of the conflict to stop if the territories controlled by Kiev were taken "under the umbrella" of NATO. He said that granting NATO membership to a part of Ukraine would stop the "hot phase," but "no one offered it." According to him, Ukraine did not consider such a proposal allegedly because it was not officially announced.