Trump says Ukraine can 'forget about NATO' ahead of meeting with Zelensky

US President Donald Trump says Ukraine can "forget about" joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), dealing a blow to the European country's long-running aspiration that was supported by former President Joe Biden.

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Trump dismissed the possibility of Ukraine joining the Western military alliance. 

“NATO, you can forget about that," he said.

"It was probably the reason this whole thing started,” he said, acknowledging the eastward expansion of NATO as one of the reasons for the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine. 

Former US president Biden had backed Ukraine's eventual membership in NATO, without offering a concrete timeframe.

Trump's statement is the latest in a series of foreign policy decisions that signal a decrease in American support for Ukraine.

In the past two weeks, the US government has demanded that Ukraine hand over mining rights for the country’s rare earth minerals as compensation for the aid given to the country in the past eleven years.

Trump says Ukraine owes America up to $500 billion.

Trump said on Wednesday he would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington on Friday to sign an agreement on the country's mineral resources. 

In return, Zelensky has said he wants US security guarantees against Russia. But Trump said the US would not provide such guarantees.  

The US government has also recently held a meeting with Russian officials on the fate of the Russo-Ukrainian war, in which Ukrainian representatives were notably absent.

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Joining NATO has been one of the main aspirations of the Ukrainian government after the 2014 regime change operation known as Euromaidan.

In 2014, pro-Western protesters, mainly in the capital Kiev, and western Ukrainian regions such as Galicia, overthrew the democratically elected government of Viktor Yanukovych.

The Euromaidan protests saw large-scale involvement from US politicians, most notably then Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, and former senator John McCain.

McCain even spoke for the Euromaidan protesters, promising them American support and a better future for Ukraine.

The extent of America’s involvement was revealed in a leaked phone call between Nuland and US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, in which they decided the members of the post-regime-change Ukrainian cabinet.

The Euromaidan protests also paved the way for the military conflict in Ukraine, which first began with the ethnic Russians in the east, and eventually escalated to a full-blown war with Russia.

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In response to years of military and political provocations by the US and European countries, Russia began its special operations in Ukraine in 2022.

Russia has managed to gain control of a fifth of Ukraine and has been slowly advancing in the east for months. Ukraine’s military, supported by the US and European countries, grapples with manpower shortages and tries to hold to a chunk of territory in western Russia.

Russia has demanded an end to the West’s military and political provocations on its borders and Ukraine’s permanent neutrality under any peace deal.

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