USA rows back:

Ukraine’s accession to NATO “not yet off the table”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in conversation with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj(Bild: APA/AFP/UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/Handout)

Ukraine's accession to NATO is unrealistic, but apparently not completely off the table in Washington. The Kremlin was already cheering behind closed doors about the shift under US President Donald Trump. But now the US government appears to be backtracking again.

"Right now, it's still on the table," said John Coale, President Donald Trump's deputy Ukraine envoy, in a Reuters interview on Thursday in response to a corresponding question. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Ukraine's military allies in Brussels on Wednesday that a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and that the US did not consider Kiev's NATO membership to be part of a solution to end the war.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth(Bild: APA/Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Trump does not believe that Russia "allows" this
The remarks sparked concern that the US had already made concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin before talks to end the war began. Trump said in Washington that he did not believe that Russia would "allow" Ukraine to become a NATO member.

Coale now emphasized that formal negotiations on Ukraine had not yet begun. The USA was still discussing with the Europeans and Ukrainians how best to end the conflict. "The Europeans want this war to end," said Coale. They are more than willing to participate in the military support of Kiev. There were doubts as to whether they would give 100 percent. "But everything I hear indicates that they are really willing to get involved," the senior official explained.

"Some people have spoken out of turn"
Asked whether the US had conceded too much to Vladimir Putin in the run-up to the meeting, Coale said: "Some people have talked out of turn, but I don't think we're conceding anything." With Putin and the Russians, he said, you don't know that. "Are they trying to play us? Or are they sincere? If you sit down at a table, you'll soon find out," said the US-American confidently.