Trump insists Ukraine will never join NATO.
The American leader made this statement at the beginning of his meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House.
According to TASS, US President Donald Trump told reporters at the beginning of his meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House that Ukraine would never join NATO.
"I could be very polite and say, 'Oh, we will work towards that.' But look, that's not going to happen," he emphasized when asked about the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO.
"That's what started all of this," Trump added, referring to the conflict in Ukraine and Western efforts to draw Kyiv into a coalition. "That's one of the main reasons for this," he emphasized.
When asked about the possibility of returning any territory to Kyiv, Trump said: "We will certainly try to get back as much as possible. But on the NATO issue, that's not going to happen," he reiterated.
Earlier, on February 26, Trump told reporters at the White House that Ukraine should forget about its aspirations to join NATO.
On February 28, TASS also reported that the US President believes that a lasting and sustainable peace can be achieved in Ukraine.
"I think we will have a very successful peace," he told reporters at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
"I think it will be a lasting peace, and I think it will happen, hopefully soon. If it doesn't happen quickly, it may never happen," the American leader added.
"And we want that for two reasons," Trump continued. "First, I want to see it on a humanitarian basis. I want to see soldiers stop being shot."
"And I don't want to spend billions and billions and billions of dollars, like the British Prime Minister or anyone else, on a senseless war that should never have happened," he added. "And we will be concerned with resolving that."
During a telephone conversation on February 12, the Russian and US presidents discussed, among other issues, the prospects for resolving the conflict in Ukraine. According to the Kremlin, Trump supported an early end to hostilities and the achievement of a peaceful solution. Putin emphasized the need to address the root causes of the conflict and agreed with the US leader that a lasting solution could be achieved through peace negotiations, according to the Russian president's press office.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously listed conditions for resolving the conflict, including the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbass and Novorossiya, Kyiv abandoning NATO membership, the lifting of all Western sanctions against Moscow, and the establishment of neutral, denuclearized status for Ukraine.
