Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy isn’t backing down from seeking NATO membership for Ukraine despite the fact that President Donald Trump has said the Ukrainian leader ‘could forget about’ joining the military alliance.
Still, Zelenskyy is all in on securing NATO membership for his country, and he said Sunday he would step down as president if it meant NATO adopted Ukraine. Zelenskyy reiterated his position Wednesday and told the BBC, ‘I want to find a NATO path or something similar.’
‘If we don’t get security guarantees, we won’t have a ceasefire, nothing will work, nothing,’ Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy is slated to visit the White House on Friday, and Trump told reporters on Thursday that a peace negotiation to end the war between Ukraine and Russia is in the final stages. Even so, no deal is secured, and Trump hesitated to discuss plans regarding a peacekeeping force in the region until one was signed.
Although Trump said on Thursday he believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin will uphold his end of a peace deal, several experts claim Zelenskyy remains adamant about pushing for Ukraine to become a NATO member because it reduces the likelihood that Putin could resume hostilities, and it means that other security guarantees are more likely.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty stipulates that if a member country is attacked, it will be considered an attack against all NATO members and requires other NATO countries to take action, including the use of armed forces.
Peter Rough, a senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute think tank, said that with backing from the West, Ukraine becomes bigger than Russia.
‘Putin would have to think twice about restarting a war if he thinks the major Western powers are obligated to defend Ukraine,’ Rough said in a Thursday email to Fox News Digital. ‘Of course, bringing Ukraine into NATO would put American (and European) skin and credibility in the game. That explains Trump’s hesitation, even resistance to such a concept.’
Rough said Zelenskyy’s ‘fallback position’ if NATO membership isn’t possible is to secure support from Western troops to promote a ceasefire. For example, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Feb. 16 that the U.K. was ready to send troops to Ukraine if necessary to ensure peace between Ukraine and Russia.
‘If all else fails, then, Zelenskyy may have to settle for continued financing and military assistance,’ Rough said. ‘But he isn’t going to negotiate with himself, which is why he remains adamant about security guarantees in public.’
John Hardie, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia program, said another conflict between Russia and Ukraine is likely and that the ‘hard truth’ is the negotiations from the Trump administration won’t ‘resolve the fundamental question at stake in this war.’
‘Putin’s goal isn’t just to grab some more territory in eastern Ukraine,’ Hardie said in an email to Fox News Digital. ‘He remains determined to make Ukraine itself into a vassal state and to rewrite the broader security order in Europe.’
As a result, Hardie said NATO membership for Ukraine provides the best option for preserving Ukraine’s safety against Russian aggression. Although that’s a no from Trump, Hardie said the U.S. does need to articulate just how much support it can offer for European troops who will provide a post-war security presence in the region.
For example, Starmer told reporters on Feb. 17 that any reassurance force would require a ‘U.S. backstop because a U.S. security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.’
‘The Trump administration needs to provide Europe with clarity on what U.S. contribution it can expect,’ Hardie said. ‘Ukraine will also need a continued supply of military aid from the West, including the United States, though there are ways to reduce the burden on American taxpayers, such as the use of frozen Russian assets.’
Zelenskyy told reporters Wednesday he is prepared to broach ‘very important questions’ with Trump during their Friday visit, including whether the U.S. will continue to provide aid to Ukraine. Congress has appropriated $175 billion since 2022 for aid to Ukraine, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
To recoup some of these costs, Trump said Zelenskyy is expected to sign a rare-earth minerals deal that will allow the U.S. and Ukraine to partner on developing resources like oil and gas.
The agreement will permit the U.S. access to Ukraine’s minerals and will also help Ukraine rebuild from the war, Trump said.
‘We’re going to be signing really a very important agreement for both sides, because it’s really going to get us into that country,’ Trump told reporters Thursday. ‘We’ll have a lot of people working there and so, in that sense, it’s very good.’
The Associated Press contributed to this report.