(Al Jazeera Media Network) Ukraine’s diplomatic situation was upended during the past week, as its main ally, the United States, reversed several positions.
US President Donald Trump announced on February 12 that he was beginning direct talks with Russia to end the war, overturning his predecessor’s promise that there would be “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”.
On the same day, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Russian diplomatic language invoking “realism”, when he told Ukraine Defence Contact Group partners in Brussels that “returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” and that “the United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.”
Eventual NATO membership has been a US promise to Ukraine since 2008, and the US has, throughout the war, supported a restoration of the border Russia recognised with Ukraine in 1991.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius called the one-sided concessions “clumsy” and “a mistake”.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/20/us-switches-stance-on-ukraine-war-seeking-500bn-in-payback
