US President-elect Donald Trump expressed understanding of Russia's position, which opposes Ukraine accession to NATO.
"So, you know, a big part of the problem was Russia for many, many years, long before Putin said you could never have NATO involved with Ukraine. Now they have said that that has been like written in stone, and somewhere along the line, [outgoing President Joe] Biden said, no, they should be able to join NATO. Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep. But I can understand their feeling about that," Trump told a press conference in Mar-a-Lago, adding that "there were a lot of mistakes made in that negotiation."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Ukraine's possible membership in NATO threatens Russia's security. In June 2024, Putin said that Ukraine's abandonment of its plans to join NATO was one of the conditions under which Moscow would be ready to ceasefire and negotiate.
Sputnik