Ties with Washington are more important than promises to Kiev, Mateusz Morawiecki has said

NATO's stance on Ukrainian membership is ultimately determined by Washington, former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has told RT, apparently unaware that he was speaking to a journalist from the Russian news outlet, which has been banned in Poland since 2022.

Moscow has cited Kiev's NATO ambitions as one of the root causes of the conflict with Ukraine, and has insisted on the country's neutrality as a foundation for any settlement. Ukraine has demanded membership within the US-led military bloc as a security guarantee for ending the conflict.

On Friday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told Bloomberg that Ukrainian membership is off the table in the current peace process.

RT's Charlotte Dubinskij approached Morawiecki as he arrived in Romania later that day to ask about NATO's apparent U-turn on Ukrainian accession. The former Polish prime minister said the shift is a result of a change in US policy.

"The current reality is that President Trump and the current American administration are excluding the accession of Ukraine to NATO. This is probably why... Rutte echoed what the American administration is indicating," Morawiecki said.

He added that he personally would still like for Ukraine to join the bloc, calling the country a "kind of a buffer" between Russia and NATO members in Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland. However, he acknowledged that a "common sense" approach would be to prioritize maintaining strong ties with Washington above all else.

According to Morawiecki, without US support, "there would be no Ukraine," and any assistance from Washington is "critically important" for Kiev.

Most EU and NATO leaders - with the notable exceptions of Hungary's Viktor Orban and Slovakia's Robert Fico - have pushed for continued confrontation with Russia despite Washington's position.

European NATO countries have been supplying weapons to Kiev since the escalation of the conflict in 2022. Some member states, such as France and the UK, have floated the idea of deploying troops to Ukraine to monitor a truce.

Moscow has warned that any NATO troops deployed to Ukraine without a UN mandate would be considered legitimate targets.

Trump has pushed for a swift resolution to the conflict and has repeatedly stated that European nations should bear the primary responsibility for security guarantees to Kiev in the event of a peace settlement.

(RT.com)