US President Donald Trump said that he had not imagined that Ukraine joined NATO in the future, reiterating the position of his administration that kyiv renounces his hopes to join the military alliance.
“I don't think they can never join NATO,” said Trump in an interview with Time Magazine published on Friday, accused kyiv's aspirations for the invasion of Russia.
“I think it was – from the first day, I think that is what I think what caused war is when they started talking about NATO. If it was not high, there would have been a much better chance that it did not start,” said Trump.
Trump's comments arise as he increased pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to accept a peace agreement which, according to criticism, promotes the Russian leader Vladimir Putin in order to keep a campaign promise in 2024 to end the war.
The statements of the American president Russia sparked the war due to the Ukraine plan to join NATO echoes the justification of the Kremlin for its invasion. But Ukraine's aspiration to join NATO was rejected in 2008 when an alliance summit in Bucharest, Romania, refused to provide the country with a membership action plan.
During the campaign, Trump said on several occasions that he would be able to negotiate an agreement at the start of his mandate, citing his relationship with Putin.
“I said figuratively, and I said it as an exaggeration, because to make a point,” said Trump when he asked him for his claims that he could end the war on the first day. “Obviously, people know that when I said that, it was said joking, but it was also said that it would be over.”
Trump said he was ready to completely abandon peace talks if there was no sign of progress. During a meeting in Paris last week, the United States presented to Ukrainian and European officials with a proposal aimed at putting an end to the war which would effectively freeze the conflict according to existing battle lines.
The United States is also willing to recognize the control of Russia on Crimea as part of an agreement, Bloomberg reported.
The freezing of the conflict would be a sacrifice for Ukraine, which sought to regain any territory in the south and east of the country taken by Russia since 2014, including Crimea, and after the large -scale invasion of Putin in 2022.
“Well, Crimea went to the Russians. It was given to them by Barack Hussein Obama, not by me,” said Trump when Russia was asked to keep this territory.
“That being said, will they be able to recover it? They had their Russians. They had their submarines there for a long time before any period of which we are talking about, for many years. People speak largely Russian in Crimea. But it was given by Obama. It was not given by Trump,” he added.
When asked if he would accept an agreement in which Crimea and other regions that Putin has taken from Ukraine has been withdrawn in Russia, Trump said: “Crimea will remain with Russia.” Adding Zelenskiy, “understands that”.
Crimea was illegally seized by Russia in 2014 in violation of international law.
Trump expressed his frustration as to the pace of efforts to end the war, in particular with Zelenskiy, tearing the Ukrainian leader in a social media position on Wednesday for having declared that his country would not recognize Russian sovereignty on Crimea and that it would go against the Constitution of Ukraine.
These comments have intensified concerns in kyiv and his allies that the precipitation of the American president to conclude an agreement will sacrifice European collective security.
The American president also criticized Putin after Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike on kyiv, the appellant “not necessary and very bad timing”, in an article in his social media platform on Thursday. He urged Putin to “stop!”
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
