US President Donald Trump has blamed the conflict on his predecessor Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine’s bid to join the bloc
US President Donald Trump has blamed the Russia-Ukraine conflict on his predecessor Joe Biden, reiterating his previous claim that the hostilities would never have broken out under his leadership.
“I don’t see any way that a country in Russia’s position could allow them, just in their position, could allow them to join NATO. I don’t see that happening,” the US president said on Thursday.
“And long before President [Vladimir] Putin, Russia was very strong on the fact. I believe that’s the reason the war started, because Biden went out and said that they could join NATO, and he shouldn’t have said that,” Trump asserted.
Trump also stood by the remarks on the prospects of Ukraine’s NATO membership delivered by his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, on Wednesday, describing them as “pretty accurate.”
Speaking ahead of the meeting of the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Hegseth ruled out Kiev’s accession to the bloc as a part of any peace deal, and also dismissed the idea of deploying US troops to the country.
“The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth stated.
The defense secretary, however, has already somewhat backtracked on his statements, stating that it was ultimately up to Trump to decide on the matter. Speaking to the media on Thursday evening, Hegseth said he was “not going to stand at this podium and declare what President Trump will do or won’t do, what will be in or what will be out, what concessions will be made or what concessions are not made.” Nevertheless, he described his assessment of Kiev’s NATO prospects as “what’s likely” and a recognition of “hard-power realities on the ground.”
