Trump asserts Ukraine will never join NATO

TASS reported that US President Donald Trump told reporters at the beginning of a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House that Ukraine will never join NATO.

“I could be very polite and say, ‘Oh, we’ll work towards that.’ But look, that’s not going to happen,” he stressed when asked about the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO.

"That's what started all this," Trump added, referring to the conflict in Ukraine and Western efforts to draw Kiev into the alliance. "That's one of the main reasons why this is happening," he stressed.

When asked about the possibility of returning any territory to Kiev, Mr Trump said: "We will certainly try to take back as much as possible. But in terms of NATO, that's not going to happen," he reiterated.

Earlier, on February 26, Mr. 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're going to have a very successful peace," he told reporters at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

"I think it's going to be a lasting peace, and I think it's going to happen, hopefully quickly. If it doesn't happen quickly, it may never happen," the US leader added.

“And we want that for two reasons,” Mr. Trump continued. “Number one, I want to see it on a humanitarian basis. I want to see soldiers stop being shot at.”

"And I don't want to spend billions and billions and billions of dollars, nor does the British prime minister or anybody else, on a senseless war that should never have happened," he added. "And we'll take care of that."

During a phone call on February 12, the Russian and US presidents discussed, among other things, the prospects for resolving the conflict in Ukraine. According to the Kremlin, Mr. Trump advocated an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful settlement. Mr. Putin stressed the need to address the root causes of the conflict and agreed with the US leader that a lasting solution could be achieved through peaceful negotiations, according to the press service of the Russian president.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously listed conditions for resolving the conflict, including the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbass and Novorossiya, Kiev's renunciation of NATO membership, the lifting of all Western sanctions against Moscow, and the establishment of Ukraine's neutral, nuclear-free status.