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Ukraine’s defense chief says no plans to abandon NATO accession

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth earlier effectively ruled out Ukraine's NATO membership

MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. Ukraine would not abandon its NATO accession ambitions, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.

"Prior to a Ukraine-NATO Council meeting, I had an important conversation with the alliance’s Secretary General Mark Rutte. Ukraine will not change its strategic course as we see our future with NATO," the Ukrainian defense chief wrote on Facebook (prohibited in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which is designated as extremist).

On February 12, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dismissed the idea of returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders as "an unrealistic objective" as he addressed another meeting of the Ramstein Group in Brussels. Additionally, he effectively ruled out Ukraine's NATO membership.

Later, US President Donald Trump said Hegseth’s remark accurately reflects Washington’s position. The US leader also emphasized that his predecessor, Joe Biden, made a mistake by repeatedly stating that Ukraine would be able to join NATO. According to Trump, this was one of the reasons why Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine.

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