In further remarks to Sky News, the UK’s former representative to Nato, Sir Adam Thomson, said that Mr Zelensky was merely suggesting “agreement to disagree over who owns a chunk of Ukraine currently owned by Russia”, with Moscow being given merely “a de facto control that could change at some future stage through diplomacy”.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested that the parts of Ukraine under his control should be taken "under the Nato umbrella" to try and stop the "hot phase" of the war. In a long, wide-ranging interview with Sky News, the Ukrainian president was asked whether he would accept Nato membership, but only on the territory that Kyiv currently holds.

An offer of NATO membership to territory under Kyiv’s control would end “the hot stage of the war” in Ukraine, but any proposal to join the military alliance should be extended to all parts of the country that fall under internationally recognized borders,