NATO membership for Ukraine ‘not on the table’ – Rubio

NATO membership for Ukraine is not currently under consideration, as Washington is focused on ending the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.

Asked about Washington’s stance on Ukraine's bid to join the US-led military bloc during a joint press conference with Icelandic Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir in Reykjavik on Tuesday, Rubio said “there’s no yes-or-no answer to that.”

Ukraine’s admission to the US-led military bloc is “not on the table as we speak,” he clarified, noting that such a move would require the unanimous consent of all 32 NATO members.

“Right now, we’re simply focused, when it comes to Ukraine, on the ending of this conflict,” Rubio said, adding that Washington is willing to play a “constructive role” in the peace process.

Ukraine has made NATO membership a key foreign policy objective since the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014, eventually enshrining the goal in its constitution. In September 2022, Vladimir Zelensky formally applied for “accelerated accession” to the bloc.

NATO has never set a timetable for Ukraine’s admission, however, and several member states have opposed the move.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly ruled out Ukraine joining NATO as part of a potential peace settlement. Ahead of his February 2025 White House meeting with Zelensky, which descended into a heated exchange, Trump told reporters: “NATO – you can forget about.”

The Trump administration has recently intensified its diplomatic push to resolve the Ukraine conflict, with the president’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visiting Moscow and Kiev last month for talks with both sides.

Russia has cited Kiev’s NATO ambitions among the key reasons for the Ukraine conflict, describing the bloc’s eastward expansion as a major threat to its national security.