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Trump says Ukraine won’t join NATO — newspaper

The US leader said it at the beginning of a meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House

US President Donald Trump Carl Court/ Pool via REUTERS

US President Donald Trump

© Carl Court/ Pool via REUTERS

WASHINGTON, February 27. /TASS/. Ukraine will never join NATO, US President Donald Trump told reporters at the beginning of his meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House.

"Well, I could be very nice and say, ‘Oh, well, we'll work to it.’ Look, it's not going to happen," he emphasized when asked about the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO.

"That's what started this whole thing," Trump added, referring to the conflict in Ukraine and the West's attempts to draw Kiev into the alliance. "That was one of the primary reasons this started," he emphasized

Speaking about the possibility of returning any territory to Kiev's control, Trump said: "We're going to certainly try and get as much as we can back." "But on the NATO, it's just not going to happen," he reiterated.

On February 26, Trump told reporters at the White House that Ukraine should forget about its aspirations to join NATO.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously listed the conditions for resolving the conflict, including the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Donbass and Novorossiya, Kiev's refusal to join NATO, the lifting of all Western sanctions against Moscow, and the establishment of Ukraine's non-aligned and nuclear-free status.

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