One of the security guarantees the US is considering as part of a peace deal for Ukraine is automatic NATO membership if Russia attacks again, a guarantee that is expected to address a key problem for Ukraine and its allies.
Points of attention
- The US is considering granting automatic NATO membership to Ukraine if Russia attacks again, in a move to address a key security concern for Ukraine and its allies.
- The Trump administration's stance on Ukraine's NATO membership is being closely scrutinized, with conflicting signals emerging from officials regarding the possibility of Ukraine joining the alliance.
- The US decision, reported by NBC News, reflects tensions between President Trump and Ukrainian counterpart Zelenskyy over the handling of peace negotiations and Ukraine's exclusion from talks with Russia.
NATO membership for Ukraine as a bonus for Russia's repeated attack
NBC News reports on this US decision, citing informed sources.
As the publication noted, US President Donald Trump was angered by the fact that his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky was in no hurry to make some compromises that American and European officials had long privately recognized as necessary.
And he was angered by Ukraine's public complaints about being excluded from talks between the US and Russia to end the war, the journalists noted.
"There is disappointment," a White House spokesman said, accusing Zelensky and some European leaders of trying to "denigrate" Trump's efforts.
The publication noted that some Trump administration officials tried to keep relations between Washington and Kyiv from breaking down.
Before Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth's speech in Brussels on February 12, they recommended that his team not say publicly that Ukraine would not become a member of NATO, the publication's sources said.
However, he did not heed this recommendation. At the time, he said that security guarantees for Ukraine "should not be provided through NATO membership." However, the very next day, he softened his rhetoric on the matter, stating that "everything is on the table" and being discussed.
But, be that as it may, both Hegseth and Vice President J.D. Vance clearly signaled during their European visits that Europe needs to take responsibility for its own defense, as the Trump administration has other priorities — the US southern border and the Indo-Pacific region.
