NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has stated that US President Donald Trump dismissed Ukraine’s potential membership in the Alliance is no longer under consideration, Rutte said in an interview with Bloomberg on March 14.
Rutte also noted that relations with Russia “must eventually be normalized” after the war.
“But we are absolutely not there yet, we have to maintain the pressure on them” to ensure that Russia takes the negotiations seriously,” the Secretary General added.
“We have to maintain pressure on them to make sure that they are ready to engage seriously in talks with the American administration and of course the Ukrainians,” Rutte said of the ongoing peace talks.
During the interview with Bloomberg TV, Rutte was asked whether former US President Donald Trump had effectively removed Ukraine’s NATO bid from the negotiating table. He responded “Yes.”
The day before, Rutte and Trump met at the White House. They discussed a potential US-mediated ceasefire in Ukraine.
Earlier, Ukraine outlined its “red lines” for peace negotiations with Russia, emphasizing that there can be no restrictions on the size of its military or prohibitions on joining international organizations, including the European Union and NATO.
