Trump agrees to deny Ukraine NATO membership

According to RIA Novosti on February 13, US President Donald Trump agreed with the idea of ​​Ukraine refusing to join NATO. This was his way of commenting on the statement of the head of the Pentagon Peter Hegseth that Ukraine's joining the bloc is impossible and unrealistic.

“That's right. I think for a long time, even before President Putin came to power, Russia said that under no circumstances would they allow this to happen,” US President Donald Trump said at the White House.

In addition, the US leader also made a number of other statements such as: A ceasefire in Ukraine could be achieved in the near future; The US intends to continue providing aid to Kiev, but requires guarantees on the protection of its investments; Ukraine will have to hold presidential elections one day; The possibility of this post-Soviet republic returning to the 2014 borders is unlikely; Ukraine may regain some lost territories.

Regarding his conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump said, “it was a long and very productive call.” According to Trump, the two leaders discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Iran’s nuclear program, energy issues, and a number of other topics.

The Russian President's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said the phone call lasted nearly 1.5 hours.

Commenting on the phone call between the US and Russian leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel: “I just spoke with Donald Trump. A long conversation about the possibilities of achieving peace, about our readiness for cooperation at the level of the contact group. We discussed the conversation with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the preparation of our new agreement on security, economic and resource cooperation... We agreed on further contacts and meetings."

Mr. Zelensky also said that President Trump had summarized for him the details of the conversation with leader Putin.

In an interview with the Economist, Mr. Zelensky pointed out that Russia has more combat brigades than Ukraine and Europe combined.

“Without Ukraine, Europe would be occupied. Without American help, Putin would gradually swallow Ukraine,” Zelensky stressed.