The United States of America never wanted Ukraine to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this at the Munich Security Conference, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
According to him, during conversations with the US leadership, he never heard that Ukraine would become a member of NATO.
Zelenskyy believes that the United States never wanted Ukraine to join the alliance.
"To be frank, the US never saw us in NATO. They talked about it, but they never wanted us in NATO. And that's true," Zelenskyy said.
He emphasized that this is not a question for the current US President Donald Trump, but for Washington's policy.
"I have heard (refusal) many times from the Biden administration, now from Trump... When I first spoke on the phone with President Biden, my first question was - will we be in NATO? He said "no," Zelenskyy recalled.
At the same time, the head of state said that this does not mean at all that this policy cannot be changed.
"Now Ukraine can strengthen NATO. And I believe that this is in the interests of Ukraine and in the interests of NATO," the President emphasized.
Earlier, on February 12, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called Ukraine's membership in NATO unrealistic at a meeting in the Ramstein format in Brussels.
According to him, pursuing the goal of joining NATO will prolong the war in Ukraine.
At the same time, today, February 14, John Coale, US President Donald Trump's deputy Ukraine envoy, said that Washington does not rule out Ukraine's membership in NATO.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in December, russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that peace in Ukraine is possible only if Ukraine refuses NATO membership and loses some of its territories.
Recall that the day before, Bloomberg described three scenarios for the end of the russian-Ukrainian war, none of which envisages Ukraine's membership in NATO.
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