NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said that Ukraine was never promised ascension to membership in the bloc. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Rutte said Kyiv’s potential accession had never been tied to the resolution of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

There was a time when the United States boldly declared that Ukraine would, in fact, join NATO.

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“We have to make sure that Vladimir Putin never ever tries again to attack Ukraine, that is crucial … but it has never been a promise to Ukraine that as part of [a] peace deal, they would be part of NATO,” Rutte said.

Rutte’s statement echoed remarks made by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday ahead of the meeting of the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group. The U.S. official also dismissed the idea of deploying his country’s troops in the country.

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“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Rutte said, adding that the security guarantees should be “backed by capable European and non-European troops.”

“To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine,” he added.

Joining NATO has been a top talking point for pro-Western Ukrainian politicians for decades, yet little to no progress has been made on that path. In 2008, the bloc proclaimed Ukraine and Georgia would eventually join, with Kiev later enshrining the ambition in its constitution and applying for membership in September 2022.

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Ukraine has still not revived NATO membership and if the ruling class today can be trusted, it does not appear that it will ever achieve that crucial goal. The last administration of the U.S. had offered egregious financial support for Ukraine, and for at least a short amount of time, it was assumed that Ukraine would join NATO.

Will Ukraine ever join NATO? If it does, will that lead to a war with Russia? What are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments!