Kallas refutes Trump's claim about Ukraine's NATO membership being impossible

She said this in an interview with AFP during a visit to Washington, D.C., European Pravda reports.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, emphasized that NATO membership would be the only effective security guarantee for Ukraine.

She stated that Estonia is in NATO because of its fear of Russia and emphasized that the only effective security guarantee is NATO's umbrella.

Trump, who broke Putin's isolation with a phone call earlier this month, stated on Wednesday that Ukraine can "forget about" joining NATO in any settlement, explaining that he believes this was likely the reason the conflict began.

Kallas responded to Trump's remarks by stating that the accusations were completely untrue. She emphasized that this was a Russian narrative that should not be accepted. She also questioned why Russia should be given what it wants in addition to what it has already done - attacking Ukraine, annexing territory, and occupying land - while now demanding even more.

Kallas clarified her point by drawing a comparison, stating that it would be unthinkable if, after 9/11, the U.S. had sat down with Osama bin Laden and asked, "Alright, what else do you want?"

Russia insists that the United States promised not to expand NATO at the end of the Cold War.  

Some American diplomats from that era deny this claim, though some also warn that Ukraine's NATO membership would be a red line for Moscow.

The U.S. president has previously claimed that NATO was supposedly the reason for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, specifically the promise that Ukraine would one day become a member.

Earlier, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also ruled out Ukraine's NATO membership as part of a "peace settlement" for the war.  

Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to insist that its position on joining the North Atlantic Alliance remains unchanged.

• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkey has no objection to Ukraine joining NATO but stressed the need for "a realistic approach".