A senior U.S. official on Thursday said the United States had not ruled out potential NATO membership for Ukraine or a negotiated return to its pre-2014 borders, contradicting comments made this week by the U.S. defence secretary ahead of possible peace talks to end the Ukraine war.
“Right now, that is still on the table,” said John Coale, President Donald Trump’s deputy Ukraine envoy, when asked whether the U.S. had ruled out possible NATO membership for Ukraine.
Speaking in an interview with Reuters in Munich, he added that a possible return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 lines was also still on the table.
On Wednesday, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a different message, telling Ukraine’s military allies in Brussels that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and that the U.S. does not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a solution to the nearly three-year-old Ukraine war.
His comments sparked concern that the U.S. had made concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin even before the start of talks.
Credit: Reuters
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