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Trump Envoy: Putin’s NATO Concerns Are “Fair,” Ukraine Membership Not on the Table
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![Amira_barkhush]( "Photo of Amira Barkhush")
US President Donald Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said in a May 29 interview with ABC News that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s concerns about NATO’s eastward expansion are “a fair concern.”
Trump’s special envoy reiterated that Ukraine’s membership in NATO “is not on the table,” noting that the U.S is not alone in its hesitation. Several other member states, he said, share similar reservations about Kyiv’s potential accession.
Kellogg noted that Russia’s concerns extend beyond Ukraine to include Georgia and Moldova.
“And we’re saying okay, comprehensively, you know, we can stop the expansion of NATO coming close to your border. That’s security concerns from them,” the general added.
He added that any US position on NATO enlargement would ultimately be determined by Donald Trump.
On May 28, Reuters reported that Putin was not prepared to end the war against Ukraine at any cost and is instead pushing for sweeping geopolitical concessions, including a written guarantee barring NATO expansion.
Kellogg stated that the next phase of peace talks would involve efforts to merge the separate memorandums drafted by Ukraine and Russia into a single document, with negotiations set to take place in Turkey on June 2.
“When we get into Istanbul next week, we’ll sit down and talk,” Kellogg said, noting that national security advisers from Germany, France, and the United Kingdom would join the United States in discussing the proposed memorandum.
On May 28, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine has yet to receive any list of conditions from Russia for ending the war.
-21d0b63c17f6020e4df75f6c6f9a2f4f.jpg "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
