Ukrainian foreign ministry assures that Russia's NATO ultimatum is "absolute hogwash"

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has responded to Russia’s demand to revoke NATO’s 2008 Bucharest Summit promise regarding Ukraine’s future membership as a condition for ending the war.

Responding to Russia’s demand that Ukraine abandon its NATO aspirations, promised in the 2008 Bucharest Summit Declaration, Georgii Tykhyi, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, stated, "Moscow was not given a say in this matter".

"Oh dear, North Korea’s ally is issuing ultimatums to NATO. Absolute hogwash. Moscow was not given a say in this matter," Tykhyi said.

Tykhyi emphasised that Russia is waging a war of aggression in Europe.

"Russia’s occupying forces are in Ukraine and other European countries. The architecture of European security is built on defence against Russia," he concluded.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko recently stated that Ukraine abandoning its NATO membership aspirations outlined in the 2008 Bucharest Summit Declaration, is a key element for resolving the Russo-Ukraine war.

Grushko also claimed Ukraine’s potential NATO membership "makes achieving peace in Ukraine and, more broadly, constructing any form of security architecture impossible".

Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed confidence that US President Donald Trump could influence Ukraine’s NATO membership. 

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, in an interview with European Pravda, reiterated that Ukraine would not abandon its NATO aspirations or accept alternatives to membership.