NATO membership for Ukraine not part of peace agreement, says Rutte

NATO has never offered Ukraine membership as part of a peace agreement,  Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said, according to The Guardian.

While the Alliance has promised future membership to Ukraine, there has never been an agreement that peace negotiations would necessarily conclude with Ukraine joining NATO.

"What I consistently have said is we have to make sure that whatever the outcome is, we have to make sure that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin will never, ever try again to attack Ukraine. That is crucial," Rutte stated.

Previously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that if Ukraine does not join NATO, it will build NATO on its own territory.

According to the Ukrainian leader, this would involve a contingent of 100,000 NATO troops in Ukraine, rather than the 5,000-7,000 currently discussed.

On October 18, 2024, Zelenskyy mentioned that some allies oppose Ukraine's NATO membership but offer no alternatives.

On January 9, 2025, a Polish presidential candidate stated that he does not see Ukraine in the EU or NATO, which the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said drew applause in the Kremlin.

On January 16, President Zelenskyy named four countries that do not currently support Ukraine's NATO membership: the United States, Hungary, Slovakia, and Germany.