NATO's chief avoids talk of Ukraine's membership. He says the priority is helping Kyiv defend itself

BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Tuesday sidestepped questions about Ukraine's possible membership in the military alliance, saying that the priority now must be to strengthen the country's hand in any future peace talks with Russia by sending it more weapons.

Rutte's remarks, ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, came days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that extending alliance membership to territory now under Kyiv's control could end ''the hot stage" of the almost 3-year war in Ukraine, where Russian forces are pressing deeper into their western neighbor.

''The front is not moving eastwards. It is slowly moving westwards,'' Rutte said. ''So we have to make sure that Ukraine gets into a position of strength, and then it should be for the Ukrainian government to decide on the next steps, in terms of opening peace talks and how to conduct them.''

At their summit in Washington in July, leaders of the 32 NATO member countries insisted that Ukraine is on an ''irreversible'' path to membership. But some, led by the United States, have balked at moving forward while the war rages and before the country's borders are clearly demarcated. All 32 countries must agree unanimously for Ukraine to join.

NATO was founded on the principle that an attack on any ally should be considered an attack on them all, and the alliance has consistently tried to avoid being dragged into a wider war with nuclear-armed Russia.

Zelenskyy argued that once open conflict ends, any proposal to join NATO could be extended to all parts of the country that fall under internationally recognized borders.

Pressed on this by reporters, Rutte said: ''I would argue, let's not have all these discussions step by step on what a peace process might look like.''

Ukrainian officials made it clear Tuesday they won't countenance any half measures or stopgap solutions on NATO membership.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded statement saying Ukraine ''will not settle for any alternatives, surrogates or substitutes for Ukraine's full membership in NATO,'' citing its ''bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum.''

Under the international agreement signed in the Hungarian capital 30 years ago, Ukraine agreed to give up its Soviet-era atomic weapons, which amounted to the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal, in return for security guarantees from Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Foreign Ministry statement called the Budapest agreement a ''monument to short-sightedness in making strategic security decisions.''

''We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent for further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is Ukraine's full membership in NATO,'' it said.

''This document, this paper, failed to secure Ukrainian security and transatlantic security. So we must avoid to repeat such mistakes,'' he said in English.

Reflecting on his recent meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Rutte said he had underlined that China, North Korea and Iran were weighing in on Russia's side, putting the United States and the Asia-Pacific region at risk.

''Whenever we get to a deal on Ukraine it has to be a good deal, because what we can never have is high-fiving Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping and whoever else," Rutte said, saying this would only encourage the leaders of North Korea and China to endorse the use of force elsewhere.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Ukraine's allies must ''do what it takes to support their self-defense for as long as it takes,'' but acknowledged that the war will end in negotiations and potential compromise.

Starmer said in a speech late Monday that allies must ''put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence — and right to choose their own future.''

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Jill Lawless in London contributed.

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