U.S. has never seen Ukraine in NATO, Zelenskyy says

He said this at the Munich Security Conference.

"To be honest, the U.S. has never seen us in NATO, they never wanted us in NATO, that's the truth. At the level of leadership, at the level of the president, I have never heard during talks that we will be in NATO, never," Zelenskyy shared.

According to him, this is not a query directed at President Donald Trump, but rather a matter of American policy, which holds that Kyiv should not be in the North Atlantic Alliance.

He also expressed that Ukraine's membership in NATO is in mutual interest, as the country has a strong army.

"But that doesn't mean we can't change this policy, because now we see that NATO and Europe consist of strong soldiers, mostly from Ukraine. We are not in NATO, but we have a strong army that can strengthen NATO everywhere. I think it is in mutual interest to have Ukraine in NATO," Zelenskyy explained.

• U.S. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth stated that Kyiv's membership in the North Atlantic Alliance and the return of Ukraine's borders to those of 2014 are not realistic outcomes.
• Later, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that Ukraine was never promised membership in the North Atlantic Alliance as a result of peace agreements.
• At the same time, Zelenskyy said that if Ukraine is not in NATO, it will need NATO weapons and an army of 1.5 million soldiers.