NATO membership only way to end war in Donbass: Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls on security alliance to send ‘signal’ to Moscow amid rising regional tensions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged NATO to speed up his country’s membership plan, saying it is the only way to end a simmering conflict in the eastern Donbass region. Ukrainian government troops have battled Russian-backed separatists in the country’s eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which form part of the Donbass, since the rebels seized a swathe of territory there in April 2014. A ceasefire was agreed to last July, but fears of an escalation in hostilities have mounted in recent weeks amid reports of renewed front-line clashes and a Russian military build-up along the shared border.