A senior NATO official has suggested that Ukraine could cede territory to Russia in exchange for formal membership of the alliance.
In remarks reported by Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang, Stian Jenssen, the Director of the Private Office of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, also implied that Kyiv's decision to relinquish territory might represent one way of ending the war in Ukraine.
"I believe that one solution may be that Ukraine gives up territory, and gets NATO membership in return," Jenssen said on Tuesday morning. "I'm not saying it has to be this way. But it may be a possible solution."
Jenssen, who is often described as Stoltenberg's "right-hand man", was also careful to echo his boss's oft-repeated claim that Kyiv alone has the right to determine how and when to negotiate with Russia.
"It must be up to Ukraine to decide when and on what terms it wants to negotiate," he said.
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Ukraine was first promised membership of NATO at the alliance's Bucharest Summit in 2008. However, NATO has not yet formally invited Ukraine to become an alliance member.
In the Summit Communiqué issued at the end of the organisation's most recent meeting in Vilnius in July, NATO leaders wrote that "we will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met".
