Rutte says which countries do not support Ukraine joining NATO

Ukraine's accession to NATO is currently not supported by the USA, Hungary and Slovakia, as well as probably several other countries of the alliance. This was stated by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a joint press conference with Polish Defence Minister Vladyslav Kosyniak-Kamysz.

According to Rutte, at the NATO summit in Washington, the allies confirmed the irreversibility of Ukraine's path to the Alliance, but in practice there is still no consensus.

Several countries have explicitly stated that they will not give their consent for Ukraine to join NATO. These are Hungary, the USA, Slovakia and possibly other states," the secretary-general stressed.

At the same time, NATO is actively working on alternative security guarantees for Ukraine, which should exclude repeated aggression by Russia. Rutte said that it is about a three-tier system. The first level is the Ukrainian Armed Forces as the main line of defence. The second is the initiatives of the so-called coalition of the willing, which the allies have been working on in recent months. The third element should be the United States.

The Secretary General recalled that in August, US President Donald Trump announced Washington's intention to participate in the system of security guarantees for Ukraine. Discussions are now continuing on what the overall package of these guarantees will be.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kiev insisted on receiving from the USA guarantees similar to NATO's Article 5 and expects that the relevant decision will be supported by Congress. Ukraine also expects a clear understanding of its partners' reaction in case of repeated Russian aggression, as well as agreements on arming and strengthening the AFU.