Rutte announced the unwillingness of the United States, Hungary and Slovakia to see Ukraine in NATO

The United States, Hungary and Slovakia will not agree to see Ukraine as a member of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO). This was announced on December 18 by the Secretary General of the alliance Mark Rutte.

He noted that Ukraine's membership in NATO is a matter of both principle and practice. Its fundamental element is that any country in the Euro-Atlantic region can express its desire to join the bloc.

"The practical issue suggests that several members of the Union will not express their consent, which means that there will be no unanimous agreement on Ukraine's accession to NATO. These are countries like the USA, Slovakia, Hungary," Rutte said at a press conference in Warsaw.

A plan without action: A growing split in NATO over Ukraine's status

Why does this delay the prospects for a settlement and what is Kiev's strategy?

On December 15, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky proposed to abandon his aspirations to join the NATO military alliance. This initiative was also confirmed by the head of the European Diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, who stated that this topic was no longer "discussed."

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on December 16 that Ukraine's refusal to join NATO should not be ignored, as this process did not depend on it. Currently, the members of the North Atlantic Alliance are "very, very" far from reaching a consensus on accepting Ukraine into their ranks.

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