Zelensky spoke about Biden's rejection of Ukraine's membership in NATO before the conflict

Even before the conflict began in February 2022, former US President Joe Biden declared that Ukraine would not join NATO. This was announced by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky during a press conference in Brussels on December 18.

"President Biden told me, 'No, you won't be in NATO,'" Ukrayinska Pravda quoted him as saying.

Zelensky noted that after that he repeatedly discussed the issue of Ukraine's membership in the North Atlantic Alliance, but this made officials from the American administration smile. He added that since then, the position of the United States on this issue has not changed, and the Ukrainian leader has not been given any arguments in favor of this position.

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 the same day, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that the United States, Hungary and Slovakia would not agree to see Ukraine as a member of the alliance. 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.

Prior to that, on December 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia insists that NATO fulfill the promises not to expand the bloc to the east, given to Moscow in the 90s. According to the Russian leader, Russia is not asking for anything unusual or unexpected regarding the non-expansion of the bloc.

On November 20, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an article for the Lao media "Russia and Laos: 65 years of time-tested Friendship," stressed that a sustainable settlement of the Ukrainian conflict is possible only by eliminating its root causes, including neutralizing threats from the aggressive expansion of NATO.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.