Rute: Ukraine's NATO membership is not up for discussion, discussion is on "Article 5"-type security guarantees

Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty establishes the principle of collective defense, according to which an attack on any of the 32 members is considered an attack on all.

Joining the North Atlantic Alliance is a strategic goal of Kiev, enshrined in the country's constitution.

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Routes, Photo: Reuters

Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Ne.V.

19.08.2025. 09:40h

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said today that Ukraine's membership in NATO is not under discussion, but that discussions are underway on "Article 5"-type security guarantees for the country, which Russia attacked in February 2022, Reuters reports.

"The situation is this – the United States of America (US) and some other countries have said that they are against Ukraine's membership in NATO. NATO's official position... is that there is an irreversible path for Ukraine towards NATO. But what we are talking about here is not NATO membership, but Article 5-type security guarantees for Ukraine, and what exactly they will entail will now be discussed in more detail," Rutte said in an interview with the show "The Ingraham Angle" on Fox News.

Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty establishes the principle of collective defense, according to which an attack on any of the 32 members is considered an attack on all. Joining the North Atlantic Alliance is a strategic goal of Kiev, enshrined in the country's constitution.

Rutte's comments suggest that Ukraine could be offered a security guarantee of that magnitude in exchange for NATO membership, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected, according to Reuters.

Following his summit with Putin on Friday in Alaska, US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as NATO and European leaders, at the White House yesterday.

Rutte told Fox News that the meeting discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, but that there was no discussion about sending troops to the field.

Trump described Monday's meetings as "very good" and said he had called Putin to begin preparations for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, ahead of a trilateral meeting that would include him.