Russia rejects Ukraine NATO membership as peace plan talks intensify between US and Kyiv

The Russian government says Ukrainian membership of the US-led NATO military alliance would be unacceptable to the Kremlin.

“For us, the threat is still the expansion of NATO,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Moscow.

“NATO’s desire to pull Ukraine into its orbit remains a threat to us.”

“This country’s membership of an aggressive military alliance that has declared Russia to be its target, calling it a security threat in all operational environments, is unacceptable to us.”

One of President Vladimir Putin’s central conditions for ending the war in Ukraine is a demand that international leaders pledge that Ukraine will not become a NATO member, Reuters has reported.

At the 2008 Bucharest summit, NATO leaders agreed that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members.

Ukraine in 2019 amended its constitution, committing to the path of full membership of NATO and the European Union.

US President Donald Trump has said that previous US support for Ukraine’s NATO membership bid was a cause of the war, and has indicated that Ukraine will not get membership.

In the reported text of a 28-point US-proposed peace plan for Ukraine, point 7 said: “Ukraine agrees to enshrine in its constitution that it will not join NATO, and NATO agrees to include in its statutes a provision that Ukraine will not be admitted in the future.”

Mr Putin said on Thursday, while talking to reporters in Kyrgyzstan, that the outlines of a draft peace plan discussed by the United States and Ukraine could become the basis of future agreements to end the conflict in Ukraine.

“In general, we agree that this can be the basis for future agreements,” Mr Putin said, adding that the variant of the plan discussed by the United States and Ukraine in Geneva had been passed to Russia.

Mr Putin said that the United States was taking into account Russia’s position but that some things still need to be discussed.

He said that once Ukrainian troops withdraw from their positions in key areas, then the fighting will stop but that if they do not then Russian forces will achieve their objectives by force.

He added that the pace of Russia’s advance in all directions was “noticeably increasing”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukrainian and US delegations will meet this week to work out a formula discussed at talks in Geneva.

“Our team, together with American representatives, will meet at the end of this week to continue to bring closer the points we have as a result of (talks in) Geneva in a form that will lead us on the path to peace and security guarantees,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

“There will be a meeting of delegations. The Ukrainian delegation will be well prepared and focused on meaningful work.”

Mr Zelensky said there would be further talks next week involving both delegations and himself, although he provided no details.

“Next week there will be important talks not with our delegation, but also including me,” he said.

“And we are preparing firm ground for such talks. Ukraine will stand firmly its feet. It will always be standing.”