Ukraine war briefing: Trump sympathises with Russian stance against Ukraine joining Nato, theguardian.com

Donald Trump has said he sympathises with the Russian position that Ukraine should not be part of Nato, and lamented that he will not be able to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin before his inauguration.Though Nato members and the Biden administration have expressed support for its eventual membership, Ukraine has never been extended an invitation. Kyiv says joining Nato will deter further Russian aggression. Conversely, Trump and his allies claim Ukraine’s membership will unnecessarily provoke Moscow and drag the alliance into a war. “A big part of the problem is, Russia – for many, many years, long before Putin – said, ‘You could never have Nato involved with Ukraine.’ Now, they’ve said that. That’s been, like, written in stone,” Trump said. “And somewhere along the line Biden said, ‘No. They should be able to join Nato.’ Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could understand their feelings about that.” Läs artikel