A senior NATO official has apologised and clarified his comments a day after he said publicly that Ukraine could give up territory to Russia in exchange for NATO membership and an end to the war, writes The Guardian.

Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, told a Norwegian newspaper that he should not have spoken as simplistically as he did, after his initial comments prompted an angry reaction from Kyiv.

At a panel event in Norway on Tuesday, Jenssen had said that while any peace deal reached would have to be acceptable to Ukraine, alliance members were discussing how the 18-month war might be brought to an end.

“I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory and get NATO membership in return”, [ Jenssen told his audience, noting that discussions about Ukraine’s postwar status were continuing in diplomatic circles. A day later, he gave an interview to the same newspaper, VG, that had reported on his original comments. “My statement about this was part of a larger discussion about possible future scenarios in Ukraine, and I shouldn’t have said it that way. It was a mistake,” he said.

But Jenssen did not walk back the idea that a land-for- NATO -membership deal could ultimately be on the table. If there were serious peace negotiations then the military situation at the time, including who controls what territory, “will necessarily have a decisive influence”, - the chief of staff said. “Precisely for this reason, it is crucially important that we support the Ukrainians with what they need”, - the official continued as he sought to emphasise that NATO members remained behind Ukraine.